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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27075949">Strange Families</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseyWriter/pseuds/RoseyWriter'>RoseyWriter</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>One Piece</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Asexual Monkey D. Luffy, Don't spoil anything past Dressrosa please qwq, I'm not caught up, Luffy Being Luffy, Luffy Is a Little Shit, Multi, One Piece Spoilers, One Piece Universe, Parent Akagami no Shanks | Red-Haired Shanks, Portgas D. Ace Lives, Red-Hair pirates given random names</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-09 01:20:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>51,557</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27075949</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseyWriter/pseuds/RoseyWriter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU where the boys don't quite grow up in the same environment, and a few other changes in the world around them.</p>
<p>A rubber boy, barely escaping with his brother, turned to see a horrifying sight before fainting. It wasn't quite as bad as it seemed though....let's go back to the beginning!</p>
<p>Shanks never really thought he would end up taking care of a kid, especially since he was a gay pirate that loved to party, but suddenly he's asked to take in 3?!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Akagami no Shanks | Red-Haired Shanks/Benn Beckman, Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco/Portgas D. Ace, Koala/Sabo (One Piece), Monkey D. Luffy/Trafalgar D. Water Law</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>128</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. "I need your help...", The Boys first week!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is the start of a very bizarre adventure in the world of One Piece.</p><p>I won't be updating this on a schedule, just whenever I have chapters finished so I can keep writing something while my school is being hectic.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a normal day for Garp. He was sitting in his office, drinking some tea as he listened to his men outside training. He was in quite a good mood thanks to going on vacation soon. Sengoku had been the one to suggest it and he agreed, thinking he would like to visit his three grandsons. Yes, three, he didn't really know how the third one got there but he loved the boy as much as he did the other two. He wouldn't change anything if he could, well, aside from the fact that the three all wanted to be pirates and not Marines.</p><p>As Garp peacefully sat, thinking of his cute grandkids, he heard a knock at his office door. He stood up and walked to the door to see it was Rosinante. He was quite close to Rosinante as he had picked up a kid that hated the Marines despite being stuck here with them. He looked behind him, seeing the grumpy kid. "Come on in, I was just having tea!" Garp moved out of the way of the door, walking and grabbing more cups before joining the two that had sat down.</p><p>"What brings you here, Rosinante? You rarely show up anymore." Rosinante stayed silent for a second longer than Garp liked and his smile fell. Rosinante put up a bubble of silence. "I'm quitting the Marines." Garp almost spit out his tea at the news. "Before you say anything, let me tell you why...you might be madder than I am." Garp took a breath and sat down his cup, Rosinante wasn't one to be serious unless it was important. He glanced at Law, seeing the boy was feeling a mix of hatred, disgust, and slight joy. Rosinante gripped his hands together, barely holding back his anger at this point. "The government has ordered we capture and kill 2 boys." Garp frowned, knowing this wasn't that uncommon but usually it wasn't directly ordered. "Rosinante, you know that isn't uncommo-"</p><p>"They want the Navy to kill your grandsons Garp." Garp was taken aback before he stood up, slamming his fist into the table, shattering it. "WHAT?!" Garp was fuming and Rosinante had to stand up to try and calm him down. "Garp! Sengoku didn't tell me directly! He wants you to get them away." Garp froze. "What do you mean?" Rosinante sighed and sat down. "I was walking by when Sengoku was talking to someone, I didn't think much of it at first and was about to walk in when he mentioned the order to find them. He's too smart to not know I was there, he also hasn't told you and gave you a vacation right? He wants you to save them somehow."</p><p>Garp sat back down, thinking. "I can't just run with them, they'll find us too easily..." Rosinante looked at him with slight pity, he couldn't stand the idea that Law would be in danger without him being able to help. Law looked between the two, before speaking. "Why not ask someone you know to hide them?" Garp looked up at him. "Well, they're on a small island right now but I don't think it will be safe there for long...The only person I think could protect them from the navy is-" Garp stopped before crossing his arms. "No. Nope. Not gonna happen. Finding someone else." Rosinante blinked. "You know someone and don't want to let them help your grandkids?!?" Garp pouted. "He's a pirate." "That's good! The navy won't think you would hide them with pirates since you hate pirates!" Law watched the two, slightly amused by them.</p><p>Garp was being stubborn and eventually, Law got annoyed by it two and interrupted the two arguing. "They go with pirates and live or die. Which would you prefer?" Law crossed his arms, staring the old man down, hoping his dad and him could finally leave soon...he wanted a nap. Garp sighed and shook his head before pulling out a small transponder snail, calling someone. Both Law and Rosinante were confused but curious as to who exactly was the saving grace of the kids.</p><p>The snail rang quite a few times before finally being picked up. "You gonna yell at me about Luffy again old man?" Garp sighed. "As much as I would love to, no. I need your help...Shanks."</p><p>Shanks stared at the transponder snail before rubbing his eyes. Benn walked in and tilted his head. "What's up? The old man chew you out too much?" Shanks moved over slightly as Benn sat down. "I wish." Benn, noticing how strange his captain and husband was acting. "Shanks? What's wrong?" Shanks sighed and leaned into Benn. "Luffy and two boys he calls his brothers are in danger..." Benn frowned and slowly wrapped his arms around Shanks. "One of them is apparently Roger's kid as well..." Benn's eyes widened. He knew how much Shanks respected his old captain, he told stories about his time on the crew whenever he got too drunk.</p><p>Benn looked at the snail before speaking. "Well. I guess we're going to be breaking your no kids on board rule." Shanks laughed a little bit. "We'll just tell Luffy it's now a no kids being pirates on board rule." Benn smiled slightly before standing up and forcing Shanks to get up too. "Well, what are we waiting for, let's go pick up Luffy and his brothers." Shanks smiled at the thought of seeing Luffy again so soon. "Alright! Tell the crew!" "Aye aye captain." Benn gave him a quick kiss before leaving the room and shouting out some commands. Shanks looked back at the snail and frowned. "I can't believe the government would stoop so low as to hurt even children..."</p><p>Ace, Sabo, and Luffy were hiding in their treehouse as they heard their grandpa looking for them in the woods. They had been at Dadan's eating when he came in and hit them all almost immediately. He claimed they were gonna train so all three boys ran away, well, the older two ran and dragged Luffy away from the food he was trying to shovel into his mouth. The boys saw Garp and crouched down, covering Luffy's mouth so he didn't say something on accident.</p><p>Garp crossed his arms, sensing where the boys were but pretending he didn't know. "Boys! Come here. I won't make you train, I have to tell you something before I leave." Ace and Sabo exchanged a look of doubt but Luffy had popped his head up. "What is it?" The other two facepalmed, hitting his head before also popping up. Garp looked up at them. "Someone's gonna is coming soon to g-" Garp stopped as he felt the presence of people. "...speak of the devil and he shall appear..."</p><p>A few minutes earlier, Shanks and his crew had docked their ship in Foosha Village and headed up into the mountain after asking Makino where the boys were staying. It was quite an interesting walk as Shanks walked into multiple branches while muttering instead of paying attention to where he was going. Benn had started to push Shanks' head down before he could get another face full of leaves. "Really Shanks, are you that nervous to see Luffy again?" Shanks stuck out his tongue. "Hey, suddenly being told to 'kidnap' three kids isn't exactly something you expect out of the blue. Especially not from a man that hates your guts for existing." Benn laughed and pulled him out of the way of a branch again. "You won't have to take care of them alone. I'm here. So is the rest of the crew. Well, maybe not Yassop, we all know how bad of a dad he is." Yassop called out indignantly and the crew laughed.</p><p>They reached a small house and a lady came out. "Are you Dadan?" Benn asked, seeing his captain still wasn't thinking like normal." Dadan nodded and looked them up and down before speaking. "Who are you?" Benn facepalmed. "I'm guessing Garp didn't mention us..." Dadan seemed to sweat a bit. "Garp you say?" Benn nodded. "We're here to take the boys, Garp said they were in danger thanks to the Navy." Dadan seemed very confused. "Well. I don't know where they are but they are probably by their treehouse. Garp showed up and they all split the second they saw him, not wanting an earful of his nagging again probably." Shanks laughed a little. "Glad I'm not the only one he nags to." "Well, we'll head to this treehouse you talked about. Which way is it?" Benn asked and Dadan pointed. "They set up traps so watch out."</p><p>The crew walked up the hill with one thought on all their minds. 'Traps???' It wasn't long before they could hear Garp yelling for the boys to come out. Shanks couldn't help but laugh. He laughed even more when he heard Luffy respond and two quite smacks follow suit. Benn had also cracked a smile at the familiar voice, most of the crew had really. The crew adored the small boy, he always made their visits a lot better. Especially since he looked up to them so much. Shanks heard Garp talking as they were almost there. He moved the branch out of the way and saw a fairly big treehouse along with three heads peaking out.</p><p>Shanks barely had any time before he was catching Luffy. "SHANKS!" Shanks, having let go of the branch to catch him, was promptly hit in the face, earning a laugh from his crew as Shanks moved out into the clearing fully. Luffy was clinging to him as much as he could, even wrapping his arms and legs around him quite a few times. Ace and Sabo, who had finally processed that Luffy was on the crowned now, hopped down, pipes ready. "Give us Luffy back!" "Yeah!" Shanks smiled at the two and crouched down, still holding Luffy. "You must be Ace and Sabo. I'm-" He was interrupted as Luffy bent backward to look at them upsidedown. "This is Shanks! He's the one that saved me!" Ace and Sabo both lowered their weapons and looked at him skeptically. "How did you dave Luffy if you're missing an arm?"</p><p>Most of the crew exchanged a look and Shanks' smile grew slightly sad. "Ah...you might not want to menti-" Luffy, who had shoved his face into Shanks' arm spoke slightly muffled. "He lost it because of me..." Shanks frowned, moving the boy. "You did not cause me to lose my arm, I choose to lose it to save you." The other two boys had gone quiet, realizing their mistake. They were usually rowdy but they'd learned that Luffy would get into these sad states and they needed to be quiet and give him lots of comforts, even though they never really understood them till now.</p><p>Garp watched the scene and ever so slightly smiled, which didn't go unnoticed by Yassop and Benn but did go unmentioned. "Boys. You're going to be staying with Shanks from now on." Luffy looked over at Garp. "But Shanks has a no kids on his ship rule!" Shanks smiled. "That's now a no pirate kids on my ship rule. So you can come as long as you don't try to fight any other pirates." Luffy smiled before reaching for his hat and holding it on his head. "You're not getting the hat back until I beat you though!" Shanks' laughed. "Wasn't planning on it pebble." Ace had been staring at his grandpa this entire time. "Why are we staying with a pirate? You hate pirates." Garp sighed. "You boys are in danger, the navy wants to get you and I can't protect you, even if I quit." Ace's face paled a bit. "No Ace, it's not entirely thanks to that, and you don't have to worry about that, everyone here knows and won't tell anyone." Garp glared at the pirates and they shrugged and laughed.</p><p>Ace was still frowning. "Then why else would the Navy want us?" Garp sighed and sat on the ground, crossing his arms. "Because my idiot son, Luffy's dad, has become the most wanted man in the world by starting a revolutionary army." Ace and Sabo were shocked. Shanks and his crew were more surprised he told them. Luffy looked between all of them. "I have a dad?" Ace and Sabo facepalmed, turning to him, going to yell at him for being dumb but instead saw Shanks hugging Luffy tightly with his arm. "Of course you do. He's pretty fucking stupid for leaving a kid as good as you but he does love you. Even I know that much." Luffy hugged Shanks back, quietly starting to cry. Luffy had only ever mentioned it once to the crew when he was really tired but it was something the crew could never forget. Ace and Sabo were confused but also worried about Luffy so they got closer to Shanks, trying to look at him.</p><p>Garp closed his eyes and finally spoke again. "You boys be good while you're with Shanks, and try not to get in trouble. I'll miss you all but it's safer for you to be 'kidnapped' than dead." Ace looked over at Garp and tried his best not to start crying, aggressively rubbing his eyes before speaking. "You just try and make the Navy better and we'll stay safe! Okay?!" Garp smiled and got up, turning to leave without saying another word. Sabo looked between everyone, seeing the mess this day had become and sighing. "Ace and I will go grab all our stuff. You better watch Luffy, or else!" With that, the blond grabbed his brother and ran towards the house. The crew laughed and Shanks only smiled, still holding Luffy tightly. Luffy had fallen asleep and was mainly relying on Shanks to keep him up.</p><p>Shanks turned to Benn and smiled sheepishly. "So much chaos and it hasn't even been an hour." Benn chuckled a little and walked over, taking Luffy despite Shanks' protests. "Luffy's got him some good brothers though. They'll have each other's back even when things get rough." Shanks stopped his small pouting at his rubber child being taken away and looked towards where the boys ran. "That's true, I think this will be a good experience. For all of us." Lucky Roux chimed in with a snicker, "Maybe not Yassop." The crew burst out in laughter as Yassop angrily yelled. Yassop pouted until the boys were back with their stuff and Luffy's.</p><p>Shanks' looked at the two boys following them as they walked to the ship. Luffy was still with Benn, fast asleep. Shanks slowed down a bit. "What's up kiddos?" Ace looked away but Sabo looked up at him. "Ace is being an idiot." "I AM NOT!" "He keeps saying it's his fault." Shanks laughed a bit and looked at Ace. "Cause of your dad I'm guessing." Ace tensed a bit but Shanks' waved his hand dismissively. "Look, I won't try to make you accept Roger as your dad, but he was one hell of a man. He loved you and your mom dearly but he was sick so he wanted to choose how he left. He never imagined Rouge was pregnant. Hell, most people didn't know, she kept it a secret until the very end." Ace had stopped walking. Shanks and Sabo stopped a looked back at him. "Roger is a horrible father." Shanks laughed. "I never said he was a good one. He terrified kid on accident all the time with his face too. Be glad you got your mom's looks kid. But seriously, you may have his blood but you don't have to be his kid if you really hate him." Ace looked up at him. "Really?" "Really kid? Family is more than just blood. You should know that you got two brothers, don't you?" Ace looked down and smiled before walking quickly past them.</p><p>Sabo laughed. "You made Ace blush!" Ace turned around and pulled the pipe off his back, jumping and swinging at Sabo. Shanks and the crew were alarmed until they watched as Sabo dodged every swing while laughing as if this was normal. "I think I may be reconsidering the idea that you kids aren't dangerous..." Benn shook his head and looked at the two. "Stop it or your grounded for a week. Two if you wake Luffy." Both boys stopped almost immediately. Shanks laughed out loud, wondering if it was because they didn't want to wake Luffy or get on Benn's bad side. His laugh however made Luffy wake up some and Benn walked over, hitting him over the head, causing everyone else to laugh.</p><p>The rest of the trip wasn't bad as Luffy didn't wake up and the boys ended up running from the back to the front and vice versa to get a good look at the crew. The crew loved this and Yassop ended up chasing them at one point after they had 'accidentally' run into him one too many times. Luffy somehow slept through it all and the group and kids finally made it into Foosha village. Makino saw the crew and popped her head out of the door. "Shanks? Boys?" Shanks looked over with a smile. "Well if it isn't my favorite barkeep!" Makino smiled and walked outside. "Oh, hush. What are you doing here with the boys though? I thought you weren't gonna come back till after Luffy became a Pirate." Ace and Sabo walked over listening intently. Shanks smiled and looked towards the mountain. "Well, there was a slight change in plan thanks to some shitty dads." Makino sighed and shook her head. "I guess you're better than them then?" Shanks laughed, looking at her with a smile. "We'll find out soon enough. Benn will probably be the best at taking care of the boys." He moved closer and whispered to her. "I mean just look at him holding Luffy, he looks like a dad already." Makino laughed lightly as the two boys listening turned to look and couldn't help but agree. Ace had the urge to hit Benn for taking his brother but didn't because Benn could be scary.</p><p>Makino and Shanks talked for a little while before the crew said their farewells and the boys were shown the ship. They were amazed, to say the least. The two hadn't seen an actual pirate ship before. Luffy had woken up but was still clinging to Benn, which had been quite common before they left Foosha before. "This is your ship???" Shanks laughed and ruffled Ace and Sabo's hair. "Yep! It's a ship that's been to the New World many times. It's even been through a battle with Mihawk," he leaned close to the two, "although he keeps coming to complain about me missing my arm now instead of fighting."</p><p>The boys were off to explore as soon as they were on the ship. Benn normally would be right behind them but he knew at this point it was useless, they'd just split up if he got too close to catching them. "You're cleaning any mess they make Shanks." Shanks spit out his drink some. "What?!" Benn smirked slightly. "You're the one that ultimately agreed to take them in." Shanks was gone in an instant chasing three boys around the ship.</p><p>Benn and the crew had been watching the boys and Shanks mess around for a while now. Shanks had finally given up and laid down on the floor only for the boys to come over. They looked at him before Luffy plopped on top of his stomach. Shanks smiled slightly but was surprised when Sabo and Ace laid down next to him, using his shoulders as pillows. It wasn't long till all three boys were out and Shanks was trapped. That didn't last long either though because Shanks was out with them almost as fast. Benn shook his head, getting up to get a blanket so they wouldn't get sick or anything. The rest of the crew was laughing quietly about how similar the boys were to Shanks in their own little ways.</p><p>Shanks, Ace, Sabo, and Luffy stayed there for a long time sleeping in the middle of the deck. Shanks was rudely awakened with a light kick in the head. He opened his eyes with a confused look to see Benn shushing him. He looked down and saw the boys were all still asleep. He smiled softly and Benn sat down, having Shanks lay his head on his lap. "Where are they gonna sleep till we get them some beds?" Shanks looked up at his husband. "Wherever they want I guess. Luffy probably won't leave us alone for a while though." Benn smiled, looking up at the quickly darkening sky. "Probably, that means his brothers won't either though." Shanks used his hand to ruffle the closes boys' hair gently. "I'm fine with that."</p><p>The five stayed like that for a little while before Benn got up, picking the older two up with ease as Shanks got up with Luffy. "We'll just let them sleep in our bed, they seem to like you being their pillow anyways." Shanks chuckled lightly and the two carried the three to the room, making sure everyone was comfortable before trying to sleep.</p><p>Ace sat up and saw he was next to Benn and his brothers. Luffy had ended up on top of Shanks again which made Ace smile ever so slightly. He didn't really know how to feel about everything that had happened. He only hoped that maybe it would help them all. "Can't sleep?" Ace jumped some and looked over at Benn. "M-maybe.." Benn chuckled some before sitting up as well. "Are you worried?" Ace huffed and sat quietly before finally speaking. "There's a lot of things I'm worried about, I mean, have you met my little brother?" Benn smiled and shook his head. "Boy do we have some stories we can tell about Luffy." Ace looked over interested. "Can you? He only really ever says how cool you guys are, he never tells us much more than that." "He did cry in his sleep one time saying sorry though..." The two looked over to see Sabo awake. Benn smiled softly. "I may not be the best to tell you all what's up with that. I bet Shanks would be allowed to tell you guys though. Why don't you ask him soon? For now, you should be getting some sleep. Or at least some food, I don't think I've seen you eat today.." Ace's stomach growled on cue and Benn laughed. "Come on you two, we'll get some food for you. And don't worry if you're anything like Luffy, we always have way more than enough."</p><p>With that Benn lead Ace and Sabo to the kitchen, waking up Stour to make them some food. "Stour's the cook of our ship, he may not be a world-class chef but he's plenty good enough for us!" Stour rolled his eyes as he made food. "I think I'm the only one that would even be able to feed you all." Ace and Sabo smiled some, they could see why Luffy liked the crew. Benn turned to look at the two. "Eat to your heart's content, we all know Luffy will when he's awake." Ace and Sabo nodded, eating some of the food as it finished. Benn looked towards the door, thinking to himself, 'At least I hope Luffy eats, he may not be in the best mood with all this brought up..."</p><p>The next day Shanks woke up to see that it was just him and Luffy in the room. Shanks sat up, making sure Luffy didn't fall off. Benn walked in as soon as Shanks sat up and sat on the edge of the bed. "It's a little later than you usually wake up. Ace and Sabo are messing with the crew, they seemed worried about Luffy not being awake yet." Shanks yawned. "Thanks, love, could you take him for a bit then, I need something to eat." Benn nodded and scooped up Luffy, who only mumbled at being moved. "You may wanna let the boys know why Luffy gets like this every now and then. It sounds like it's happened a few times with them around.." Shanks stood up and looked at Luffy and Benn. "That's true...I'll tell them later, I hope Luffy wakes up first so I can let him know though." Benn nodded. "I'll just stay in here with him since everyone seems to have dubbed this the room to avoid already."</p><p>Shanks had eaten food fairly quickly and found the boys even quicker because he got a pipe to the leg on accident. Sabo looked up at him wide-eyed as Ace tried to sneak away. "Sh-Shanks. we're sorr-" Sabo was interrupted by Shanks' laughter. "You boys sure are rowdy, huh?" Both boys looked confused. Shanks looked at them confused. "Did you think I'd get mad?" Ace walked back over to Sabo as he nodded. "Most people would chase us just for getting near them...Well except the pirates, they chased us because we stole from them at first." Shanks looked surprised. "Pirates? Wait you stole from pirates?? When? How? Wasn't that Dadan lady watching you???" Sabo and Ace shared a look. "She just gave us shelter and food at first, then we kind of left. There's this area where people steal from everything the town doesn't want. Lots of pirates would gather there. Actually, that place was destroyed, we were almost caught in the fire but Sabo got me and Luffy out after getting away from his dad."</p><p>Shanks was trying to process what they had just told him. "Okay wait, so you guys have been basically protecting yourselves this whole time? And you almost died because of a fire?" Sabo nodded before Ace chimed in, "Luffy almost died to the Pirates before that. That was when I still hated him though. We thought he was gonna tell them where we put our treasure but he didn't and got hurt pretty bad." Shanks looked distressed and the two went quiet. "We probably shouldn't have mentioned it.." Shanks shook his head."No, no, I'm glad you did. Luffy seems to be could at getting in trouble even when we're not around, huh?" The boys looked confused. "Come on, I'll tell you why Luffy gets sad for a few days randomly. First, let's go see if he's awake yet."</p><p>The three were now sitting in Shanks and Benn's room on a small couch while Benn was sitting on the bed with Luffy. He was awake now, but mainly just hugging Benn. He had only spoken when Shanks asked if he could explain to his brothers. "Where to start...well I guess let's start with this fact. Luffy has an issue with being alone, I'm sure you two have at least figured that part out. When Luffy was young Dragon, his dad, gave Luffy to Garp to try and keep him safe. Garp however left Luffy to the village where we left from. The whole town did their best to help raise him but no one really took him in, Makino was probably the one that did the most besides the mayor. She watched over him during the day as she worked and the mayor gave him a spare room to sleep in. Besides that, Luffy didn't really have anyone, he spent most of the day at the bar watching Makino and trying to talk to the customers, most ignored him though." The two brothers seemed angry at the thought of no one being there for Luffy.</p><p>Shanks smiled as he continued. "One day we came into the bar and Luffy caught all of our interests. He immediately came up to me and tried talking to me, not scared one bit. It was so shocking I laughed, but Luffy and all of us become close and it became our favorite bar to visit. Makino always made the beer cheaper too since we gave Luffy friends. One day, however, someone tried to make me mad but that's a pretty hard thing to do as you boys just saw. Luffy got angry because I didn't and accidentally ate the devil fruit that day. Boy was it a shock when he stretched after I tried making him spit it up." Luffy stuck out his tongue. "After that, we stayed for a week since it was kind of our fault and Luffy kept accidentally stretching at bad times. We left for a few hours and came back to the bar being a mess. We learned the bandits had come back and Luffy picked a fight with them."</p><p>Benn stood up and walked to the door, leaving with Luffy before Shanks continued. "The bandit was threatening to hurt Luffy and disappeared when he realized he couldn't win a fight. He went to the sea to escape and ended up throwing Luffy in the water before a sea king came up to the small boat. Of course, I wouldn't let Luffy get hurt so I saved him." Ace looked down slightly, thinking. "You lost your arm to save his life..." Shanks smiled at Sabo. "Yes, and I'd lose my other to do it again if I needed to." Ace and Sabo both seemed surprised. "But then you couldn't be a pirate!" Shanks laughed. "Ace, there are some things more important than being a pirate. If I really wanted to be a pirate more than anything else I wouldn't have taken you, boys, under my care." The two looked at each other. "So that's why Luffy tries to stay happy all the time.." "Why does he get sad randomly then." Shanks smiled sadly. "Well, it was the night before we left when I really learned why. It had gotten super late and Luffy was very tired. He had kept saying things and making the crew laugh. But I guess a conversation he had earlier in the day made him think...he asked why nobody wanted him..." Ace stood up. "BUT WE WANT HIM!" Shanks smiled and motioned for him to sit down. "I know, I know, but some part of his brain that remembers the nights when he had no one while every other kid he saw had families tells him that he isn't really wanted. It's not something he can help, but having brothers like you no doubt has made it better. I think one day he'll finally be free of those thoughts when he sees how many people love him."</p><p>Sabo and Ace were naturally quiet. "I don't want Luffy to ever feel like that." "I don't either. Luffy has made us happy, even when he does stupid stuff like fight a crocodile!" Shanks blinked. "Wait what?" Ace and Sabo looked up then at each other before getting up and bolting. "Nothing!" Shanks got up and chased after them. "Come back here you two!" The three barged out of the room and around the ship as Benn watched, shaking his head. "Those idiots." Benn looked at Luffy and sighed. "You know we love ya kid, so how about we go get something to eat and you can join your brothers in messing with Shanks." Luffy smiled some and nodded.</p><p>The next day was just as hectic as the first as Benn learned of the 'adventures' they had while under the mountain bandits care. "I swear I'll hit those bandits one day." "Why'd you hit us then?" Benn looked at Ace and Sabo. "That was for when you let Luffy get in trouble and didn't help him out." Luffy laughed before receiving a hit as well. "Please try to learn to stay out of danger." The three boys were pouting and Shanks laughed. "Come on Benn, they're just being kids. I wa-" Another smack was given out. "Don't give them any ideas or you're fixing it!" Shanks laughed as he rubbed his head. "Okay, okay, let's just do something other than lecturing the boys, plus they're already sneaking away." "BOYS!"</p><p>It went on like that for the week with the boys getting into all sorts of mischief while Benn and Shanks tried to contain them, with no help from the crew of course. On the sixth day, the ship had gotten close to the calm belt and they were created by a taller man. He stared at the kids as Ace and Sabo stood defensively in front of Luffy, who was mainly curious about who the man was. Shanks walked up and patted the boys head, calming them down some.</p><p>"Shanks." "Mihawk." "Why are there three kids?" "Well-" "Please tell me you didn't steal them." "Mihawk! They're living with us for protection. Plus they're basically my kids now." Shanks huffed. Mihawk starred at the kids as Benn walked over and they turned to talk to him. "What am I supposed to do now? I can't cuss at you in front of kids.." Shanks rolled his eyes. "Then go get your own kid." Shanks and Mihawk stared at each other for a few minutes before Hihawk turned to leave. "Okay." With that, Mihawk was gone. "Wait what?" Benn started laughing. "Oh my god, Mihawk's gonna adopt a kid now." Shanks looked back at him. "Seriously?!? What have I done..." Luffy tilted his head. "Who was he anyway?" Benn looked down at him. "Dracule Mihawk, the world's strongest swordsman." "Can we be friends with his kid?" Shanks laughed as Benn sighed. "Sure kiddo."</p><p>The next day, they were in the calm belt. "Boys, remember what I told you?" "Not to bug Shanks because the sea kings live here..." Benn smiled. "Good. Wait, where's Luffy?" Sabo and Ace looked around before they were up and out looking for their little troublesome brother. Benn shook his head and went to find Shanks, which wasn't hard as he was sitting on the deck making sure no sea kings got too close. Benn also found Luffy there, asleep on Shanks' lap. Benn smiled before going off to find the other two boys.</p><p>The Red-Hair Pirates never thought that their lives would be changed so quickly but they were happy it was. Well, except for times like when Ace and Sabo learned Yassop had a son, or they chased the monkey around deck, or when Sabo stole the booze to make balloons out of them, or the time Ace accidentally slingshotted Luffy off the deck, or....well, a lot of things. They had barely had the boys for a week, but they were a part of their family.</p>
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<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Old Mayhem, New Friends!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>We aren't gonna question if I have bad grammar or spelling in any of this because I'm dumb, alright? Alright.</p><p>Also, it makes me incredibly happy to see some people liking this because it's mainly just something I decided to do to help relieve some stress since it doesn't have a set schedule. I love writing and love it even more when people like my work. I genuinely thanking any and all of you for even reading this. So thanks to anyone and every one that even just reads this ^^</p><p>Here we go now! Some more fun stories before actual sad stuff next time.. :(</p><p>Then more fun stuff after that though! :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ace, Sabo, and Luffy had been given their own room after a week in the new world. They had tried to find an island that made furniture but most ended up being a mess or uninhabited by people. Most of the time the boys hadn't jumped off the ship and run across the island, but one time Luffy did just that. Ace and Sabo obviously followed after, wanting to explore and also make sure Luffy stayed out of too much trouble. Most of the crew had determined him the most troublesome but only because he seemed to be a magnet for trouble.</p><p>The island the three boys had decided to explore happened to have been an island with giant animals. Benn was unaware they had gotten off until he asked Yasopp where Shanks and the boys were. "Uh...Shanks may or may not be looking for them on the island because Luffy ran off and his brothers followed?" Benn stood there for a minute before turning and walking away from a terrified looking Yasopp. Benn easily found Shanks as he had better Observation Haki than him. "Shanks, you're pacing, you aren't going to find them that way." Shanks looked over with a sheepish smile. "I am?" Benn shook his head. "Stop worrying and let's actually go look."</p><p>Shanks nodded and Benn led them through the forest, searching for the boys as Shanks kept the animals at bay with his Conqueror's Haki. "I found them. There's an animal near them too." Shanks smiled. "Well let's hurry up then!" The two ran through the forest with ease before Benn's eyebrows furrowed. "I can't tell if it's the boys or the animals, but one of the Haki's disappeared.." Shanks glanced back before speeding up even more. The two burst into an area that seemed to be destroyed. They immediately saw Luffy jumping up and down on top of a giant tiger and the other two boys looking up at him with smiles.</p><p>Luffy looked up and saw Shanks and Benn. "Dad look!" Shanks froze and blinked surprised as Benn was between laughing and smiling. Luffy looked at the two and tilted his head. "What?" Sabo burst out laughing and Ace shook his head. "You called Shanks dad." Luffy looked at his brothers before turning to Shanks and Benn. "Oh, was I not supposed to?" Benn was quick to respond as Shanks still seemed to be processing what happened. "No, no, it's alright, I think you just surprised Shanks." With that, Benn his Shanks in the back of the head and he snapped out of it. "I-I don't care, if anything I'm happy if I'm your father-figure!" "Nah, that would be Benn. Your just a dad." Sabo chimed in and Shanks looked slightly offended but happier that Sabo also saw him as a dad. Benn smiled and walked over to the tiger, catching Luffy as he jumped down. "If you boys want to call us dad neither of us mind, most of the crew has already deemed us the parents and themselves more aunts and uncles figures." Shanks looked at Benn. "They what?!" Ace laughed. "How clueless can you be sometimes?" Shanks blushed slightly before pouting.</p><p>The kids laughed at Shanks' pouting and Benn walked over with Luffy. "Come on you big baby, you can be pretty oblivious at times, isn't that one of the reasons other than liking me that I was picked at your first mate?" Shanks smiled. "Nope, it was just because you were cute." Shanks received a blow to the head. "Come on boys, Shanks' will find his own way back to the ship." With that, the older two followed Benn while concealing their laughter poorly.</p><p>It was quite a while before Shanks did make it back to the ship but he wasn't upset at all because he just kept thinking about Luffy calling him dad. Most of the crew was confused about his good mood until Luffy slammed open the door of the kitchen, running out on to the deck. "Dad's finally back!" Most of the crew almost choked on food or drinks as they heard Luffy call him dad before they burst out laughing or smiling. "I called it, you guys all owe me money!" "That's not the deal, Ace and Sabo also have to call him Dad. We all knew Luffy would sooner than later." The crew shut up as they felt a gaze on them. "You guys were betting on my kids?" The crew sweatdropped before scattering off from the 'angry' Captain.</p><p>Sabo and Ace peaked out from the kitchen, food still in mouth, watching Shanks chase the crew as Luffy chased them both, laughing. The two looked at each other before smiling and quickly swallowing their food and joining in on the chase. Benn was basically the only one not running around the deck at that point. He sighed and shook his head before scooping up the boys the next time they passed him. "How about we have some dessert now?" The boys instantly agreed and they left the others to run around.</p><p>Later that night, after Luffy had fallen asleep, Ace sat up. "Hey, Sabo." Sabo tiredly sat up. "What..?" Ace looked down some before looking over at him. "Do you really think they see us as their kids?" Sabo looked over before looking up at the ceiling. "I think so, they're definitely a million times better than my actual parents. They care about us and worry when we do stupid things. They also make sure we're comfortable but not suffocating...I don't know for sure, but I think they do, well, I hope they really do." Ace stared at him a bit longer. "Your birth parents are just assholes though. But, I also think they treat us well. I've seen families from watching some of the townspeople before I met either of you and they definitely treat us similar-" Both boys froze as they heard the door open quietly.</p><p>Benn peeked in and saw the two sitting up and smiled slightly. "I had a feeling you two might still be up. Do you want to talk?" The two stayed still for a second before shrugging. Benn walked in and moved a chair over. "Let me guess, you're thinking about Luffy starting to call Shanks Dad and all that?" Ace looked away as Sabo nodded. "We don't expect you two boys to call us anything if it makes you uncomfortable, but if you want to call us dad or anything like that we won't mind." Sabo nodded slightly, but Ace was the one to speak. "Do you really see us as your kids? Even though we aren't actually..." Benn shook his head. "I thought you'd know better seeing as you have two brothers that aren't blood-related. But yes, we really do. It was a little strange to suddenly have three rambunctious kids like you guys running around but I can say for a fact that none of us would change that. We love all three of you dearly." Ace was a little flustered, still not really used to anyone but Sabo and Luffy caring about him. Sabo has a small smile. "Thank you, for caring about us. None of us really knew what it was like to have good parents so it's just..." "Weird?" Both boys nodded. "Weird." Benn placed a hand on both their heads. "Well now you do, and we won't do anything to hurt you. Shanks would probably hate himself if he ever made any of you sad honestly."</p><p>Benn and the two older boys talked for a while, mending small cracks in their hearts and strengthening the bonds between all of them. Luffy eventually woke up as they were talking, scaring all three of them, before he fell back asleep, hugging Ace's since he was closest. Benn laughed lightly as Ace had to sit in an awkward position so Luffy could be comfortable. "You boys have such a strong bond already. Never let someone break that, not even Shanks, Garp, me, no one. That should be one of your greatest treasures." Sabo smiled proudly. "It is!" Ace nodded with a cocky smile. "I'll kick anyone's ass if they try to break our bond or hurt Luffy." Sabo nodded. "Yeah, it's also our job to protect Luffy since he's our crybaby little brother!" Benn smiled and ruffled the two's hair. "You boys should get some sleep, then tomorrow I may let you get away with a few things or plan where we go next." The two looked at him excitedly. "Don't tell Shanks though." They nodded and Benn stood up. "Alright, get some sleep then."</p><p>The next morning was strangely peaceful as the boys hadn't gotten up right away. Benn didn't think much of it because Luffy had a habit of waiting for the other two to wake up before running around and the boys had stayed up late the night before. Shanks however was worried and kept trying to go check on them, only being stopped by Benn. "Leave them alone, they're just sleeping in for once. I'm honestly surprised by how little sleep those boys get, might be why they fall asleep randomly.." Shanks sat back down. "Are you sure they're sleeping in and not sick or something? What if they got bit by something on that island?" Benn shook his head. "You're gonna keep worrying until you go check, aren't you?" Shanks nodded and Benn stood up, dragging his husband with him. "Fine."</p><p>The two adults opened the door to the room to see all three of the boys were still sleeping. Shanks smiled slightly at them. "See, I told you they were just sleeping." "Shut it, you came and checked on them last night didn't you." Benn hit his shoulder lighting before looking over as one of the three stirred. Luffy sat up and looked around before seeing them in the door. "You woke him up Shanks." Shanks grumbled before slipping into the room and walking over to the chair near the bed. "Sorry I woke you up Luf." Luffy smiled brightly. "I was already awake earlier but I fell back asleep since Ace and Sabo were still sleeping." Shanks smiled. "How about we get food and you can work on your fighting to try and surprise Ace and Sabo when you're better?" Luffy nodded and jumped out of the bed, practically dragging Shanks out of the room. Benn shook his head and was about to leave before he heard two small laughs from the bed. He looked over and quietly snuck over before pulling the blanket off.</p><p>Sabo and Ace looked like deer caught in a hunter's sight. "What are you two doing?" Sabo looked over with a nervous smile. "Nothing?" "Doesn't seem like nothing." Ace crossed his arms. "We were planning where we were heading next but it's not exactly easy since we don't quite know where it is." Benn shook his head lightly and sat down. "Well, I'll help you and won't tell if you tell me what you're planning other than where we're going." The two shared a look before agreeing. "You remember how Ace got snappy and rude with Yasopp after learning he had a kid and eventually we had him explain why he left and hadn't returned?" Benn nodded. "And Luffy said that he thinks Ussop would forgive him, yes I remember." "Well, Sabo and I think Luffy is right so we wanna go to Yassop's home to meet his kid." "And prove Luffy right?" The two boys nodded slightly embarrassed. "Alright, I guess I can keep it a secret and get us there. I do need to tell Shanks though, he'll keep it a secret though, I'll make sure of that." The two smiled brightly. "The plans in progress then!"</p><p>Benn smiled and stood up. "You two go get some food and join Luffy and Shanks, I'm sure you both want to train with each other instead of Luffy getting ahead by learning to aim." The two boys were out quicker than ever when they heard that. They love Luffy but Benn knows they both want to stay stronger so they can be the ones protecting him instead. Benn left the room and went up to the helm, changing their route to Syrup Village before going off to find Shanks and let him know where they were headed.</p><p>It took only a few days to get to Syrup Village since they were already in the east blue on one of Shanks' whims again. The boys were all excited and had to stop Luffy from telling Yassop where they were heading on many occasions. Most of the crew had already learned where they were going from him and agreed to keep it a secret, some even helped stop Luffy from telling Yassop by distracting him with something random. Benn found it the most amusing as Yassop had gotten irritable by the fairly evident secret they were keeping. Yassop had asked him multiple times what the boys were planning but Benn always said he didn't know, which Yassop didn't dare question since he was scared of Benn, he'd never admit it though since Benn always seemed more laid back than intimidating on the surface. The boys would argue that he isn't scary at all, unless they did something bad that is.</p><p>Yassop happened to be inside when they neared the island and people got ready to anchor the ship before he could protest or try to steer the ship away. Ace, Sabo, and Luffy all smiled excitedly as they looked at the quaint village. They wanted to hop off and explore already but they promised not too since they had to be the ones to convince Yassop to actually get off the ship. Luffy was running in circles as Sabo and Ace watched him, wondering how he wasn't dizzy yet. Yassop finally came on to the deck to see they were anchored. It took him a minute to register where though and the boys had already gotten ahold of his arms by the time he did.</p><p>"NO! I am not going to the island. I left, I'm just some deadbeat pirate dad now!" "But I think Usopp would understand! Plus pirates are cool, he probably thinks you're amazing!" Yassop shook his head, trying to unwrap the stretchy boy from around him. "I said no, and that's it." "But we want to meet him." Yassop looked at Sabo. "You planned this because I told Benn you used the beer for beer water balloons again." Sabo stuck out his tongue as Luffy laughed. "I don't think you really have a choice at this point Yassop. Ace looks like he's ready to drag you there unconscious if he has to." Yassop looked at Ace, who had somehow got his hands on a metal pipe again. "Alright alright. But we're leaving super quickly." "Deal!"</p><p>On the island, a small boy with an abnormally long nose ran through the village with a bigger smile than usual, yelling as he ran. "Pirates! Pirates are here!" The other parents in the village usually would have yelled at him for being so loud but they had seen the familiar flag that had visited their village once before and let the boy run-up to his small house. The boy only had 4 friends. The three boys that called him Captain and Kaia, a girl who lived with her parents up in the manor. He usually would sneak over and talk to her as she gardened. He had gotten caught one day and her parent's invited him in. They didn't mind his small stories and told Merry, who had his doubts, that he was a good kid with too much imagination.</p><p>Merry happened to be in town at the time, bringing Usopp some food from Kaia, she had been baking with her mother. He watched the boy run into the house before shaking his head and walking in after him. "Usopp, I brought some food for you." Usopp looked at Merry, still smiling widely. "Pirates are here Merry! And it's the ship my dad's on!" Merry tilted his head. He didn't mind pirates but he did question why Usopp still looked up to his dad after he left them. Merry put the basket down. "If you don't mind me asking, why do you still look up to your father? And why do you tell your stories?" Usopp sat on the edge of the bed. "Well, my dad left to be a pirate, he never kept it a secret, and both mom and I knew he loved us so we didn't mind. I was sad he didn't come when mom was sick, but being a great warrior of the sea takes a long time. But he's back now!" Merry smiled slightly. "Alright. The stories though?" Usopp laughed and rubbed the side of his nose. "I make the stories to make others happy, and also when I'm a pirate I can get myself out of trouble with lies!" Merry shook his head but was still smiling. "Well, I don't think lying is good, but if it keeps you alive and doesn't hurt anyone I will allow it."</p><p>Ace, Sabo, and Luffy were all dragging Yassop down the path, with Yassop getting slower with every second, trying to bore them back onto the ship. "Come on, come on, come on, come on, come-" "SHUT UP LUFFY!" Two heads were hit as Luffy hid a small laugh. "Don't yell at your brother Ace, Sabo. You're both just as excited as he is. "Sorry Benn.." The two said before running off ahead with Luffy quickly tailing behind them. "Why did you come with us, Benn?" Benn looked over at Yassop. "It was me or Shanks." Yassop sighed. "So I got lucky with you coming." Benn nodded before picking up his pace. "If we lose sight of the kids you aren't gonna make it back to the ship before we raise anchor." Yassop sighed and picked up his speed as well. "I just hope they don't like each other as much..." Benn laughed, scaring Yassop. "You're talking about Luffy here, he could befriend anything." Yassop sighed, knowing Benn was right.</p><p>The group made their way to the edge of town and Yassop already regretted agreeing as he saw familiar faces. One older lady smiled, surprising him. "Hello Yassop. I think your little boys waiting at home." Yassop rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh really? Thanks.." Benn shook his head and grabbed Yassop's arm, dragging him as the boys ran from place to place, looking at everything they could. "This place is way different than our home island!" Ace and Sabo nodded as they looked around. Benn walked up and used his free arm to guide the boys towards the house the old lady had pointed at. "That's because this is a smaller island with a less hierarchy based living style. There's only one manor in this town and the family there treats the other islanders with equal respect." Sabo looked up at Benn. "So everyone here is basically equal." Benn nodded. "Most people live comfortable lives with no fear of pirate, the navy, or tyrants. They just go about their days." Ace was still looking around, looking at the people and how kind they all seemed. "Like Foosha!" Benn laughed slightly, gaining both boys' attention. "Well, yes, but I think you made it more lively after you ate the devil fruit on accident." Sabo and Ace quickly looked at each other.</p><p>"Hey Benn, can you tell us what happened when he first got the devil fruit powers? Shanks told us how he ate the fruit but that's about it." Benn laughed lightly. "I'll tell you boys' later. Luffy's gonna be grumpy though." The two looked at Luffy to see he already had his arms crossed, thinking about when he first got his powers. Ace and Sabo laughed before talking about something else as they walked up to the house. Benn was in a good mood from thinking back on the times they first met and hung out with Luffy. He left his thoughts when he saw they were almost at the house. "Boys, let Yassop go in first so you don't scare Usopp." The boys looked back at Benn before reluctantly nodding and slowing down. "Hurry up Yassop! We wanna meet Usopp!" Yassop sighed and walked up to the door, hesitating.</p><p>Before he could even touch the handle the door swung open and Yassop was knocked over by a kid. "Dad!" Yassop looked at Usopp and couldn't help but tear up. "I'm so sorry Usopp, I heard your mother was sick after it was too late and I didn't think it was right for me to come back after that.." Usopp looked at his dad with a smile. "It's fine! You're being a pirate and fulfilling your dreams! Plus you were still thinking about me right?" Yassop smiled and hugged him. "Of course I was!"</p><p>Luffy was basically bouncing in place as he looked at Usopp. Both Ace and Sabo were looking at him, trying to figure out what he was like. Usopp finally noticed the other four behind his dad. "Who are they?" "They-" Yassop was knocked fully on his back as Luffy hopped over his head. "I'm Luffy!" Benn shook his head. "Luffy don't jump on Yassop, he wasn't prepared for that." Luffy just laughed as Usopp looked over at Benn. "I'm Benn, I'm the second in command on Red Hairs ship." Usopp looked at him with wide eyes. "The other two boys are Ace and Sabo. Just don't piss them off." Usopp looked at the two, nervous by their stares. "O-okay."</p><p>After they had finally all gotten inside they met Merry. "It's nice to finally meet you Yassop. Usopp talks about you all the time as well as makes up pirate stories." Yassop smiled. "So you're a liar?" Usopp nodded. "And a sniper, like you!" Luffy smiled. "You're a sniper? You should join my crew when I'm old enough to be a pirate!" Benn and Yassop both stared at Luffy in slight surprise. "I'll be your captain then." Luffy stuck out his tongue. "No way! I'm the captain! And Ace and Sabo are gonna be on my crew too!" The other two boys sighed, having given up on arguing with him a long time ago. "And we're gonna get that Hawk dude's kid too!" Yassop started laughing as Benn shook his head slightly. Merry and all the boys looked confused. "You're going to give Shanks a heart attack if you have Hawkeye's kid on your ship Luf." Sabo and Ace realized what Benn meant and started laughing as well, remembering how Mihawk had come to bug Shanks before seeing the three of them and freezing in place.</p><p>The group talked for a while, Merry was quick to tell the brothers about the island after he noticed their interest in how different it was from their own before he left to go back to the manor. Usopp eventually started to make up a story for them and they all listened. Ace made it his goal to point out everything impossible and Sabo pointed out inconsistencies as Luffy just reacted to the story. They ended up staying a lot later than planned and Ace and Luffy had fallen asleep at some point. Sabo was trying to mess with them in their sleep but kept getting stopped by Benn. "We should probably get going now Yassop. And the boys will make sure he writes Usopp. I'm sure they're going to want to anyway. We'll just step outside for now." Benn stood up, easily picking up the two sleeping ones as Sabo got up and followed him outside.</p><p>Yassop turned to look at Usopp. "I am really sorry for not being here Usopp." Usopp shook his head. "You just keep being a brave warrior of the sea I can look up to!" Yassop smiled, pulling him into a hug. "That's something I can do! You keep lying and being a sniper like your old man." "Of course I will!" The two laughed and finished their goodbyes. By the time Yassop got outside Sabo was also starting to fall asleep while standing up. "Take Luffy, he's the lightest." Yassop took Luffy awkwardly as Benn scooped up Sabo. "Shanks is gonna bug you about staying there a long time you know." Yassop sighed as the two walked through the darkening town. "I know.."</p><p>The ship was quiet as they waited for the boys' to get back. Shanks was on the deck talking when they showed up on the path. He smiled, seeing all three boys' had fallen asleep at some point. "They'll be up bright and early." Benn nodded as they got closer. "And I think I know where Luffy's gonna be demanding we go next." Shanks tilted his head. "Where?" Benn smirked. "That's a surprise." Shanks was slightly nervous at Benn's look but laughed lightly. "It can't be that bad, right?" Benn didn't reply and Shanks got more nervous. "Right??"</p><p>Shanks was right that they would be up early as the crew was awoken to a loud crash from the storage. "BOYS!" All three boys shared a look before Ace and Sabo grabbed Luffy from the pile of, now broken, barrels they had accidentally slingshotted him into. After Luffy was free they ran to try and hide from Benn. Sabo was the only one that managed to hide though as Ace was trying to get Luffy to hide somewhere else and Luffy was almost covered in grape juice, leading a trail right to them. Benn had his hands on his hips as the two boys looked up at him with sheepish smiled. "Oops?" Benn sighed, grabbing Luffy's shirt before he spoke. "Luffy you're getting a bath and Ace you're cleaning up the mess." He turned, dragging a struggling Luffy across the deck. "Sabo, you better help too or I'll make you do all the chores for two weeks." Sabo gulped from his hiding spot and jumped down after Benn left. "Poor Luffy. He hates baths." Ace shrugged as he grumbled. "He doesn't even have to clean like we do." Sabo patted Ace's shoulder. "We were kinda the ones that cause the mess." Ace huffed before turning to get a mop.</p><p>Meanwhile, Benn had dragged Luffy into the bathroom and locked the door. "You're taking a bath whether you like it or not." Luffy ran to a corner of the room. "No way!" Benn sighed. "Either you take a bath and I'll help you clean your hair out from the juice or I'm just throwing you into the ocean to clean you." Luffy thought for a second before grumpily walking over to Benn. "Fine.." Benn smiled. "Good. How about you tell me how exactly you got covered in this stuff anyway." Luffy smiled and started to explain as he cleaned up, not really paying attention to the fact that he was taking a bath because he was telling Benn what had happened.</p><p>After Luffy was fully clean Benn carried him on his back to go check on the other two. They had cleaned up most of it but didn't know what to do with the barrels and the main puddle of juice. "Just leave it for Shanks to deal with, you guys cleaned up most of it." Sabo cheered as Ace threw his mop to the side. "Oh, Benn, how did you manage to get Luffy clean so fast? He always runs away." Benn shrugged. "It's a secret." Ace crossed his arms but Benn spoke again. "How about we go plan where we're heading next?" Luffy smiled brightly. "Let's go meet Hawk-dudes kid!" Ace and Sabo both smiled as if they had a plan and Benn ignored it. 'Not my problem.'</p><p>Benn took the boys up on the helm and told them a little about navigating in the regular seas. Most of it went over Ace and Luffy's heads but Sabo understood a bit. "Hey pa, how do we know where Hawk-dude is gonna be?" Benn smiled at being dubbed pa but didn't point it out. "Well, he's probably on his island where he lives so we're just gonna head there. It should only take a few days at most." Sabo and Ace weren't surprised by Luffy calling Benn pa since he already called Shanks dad on a regular basis. Sabo had actually started to call Shanks' dad too after the talk with Benn because he did see him as a dad. The first time it happened Shanks hugged him so tight everyone was worried Sabo couldn't breathe. Ace had only called Shanks' dad once and Shanks cried for hours afterward since Ace is always so touchy about family, which caused Ace to call him old man only the rest of the day before they go to the island. Both boys had also wanted to call Benn something but didn't know what and were kind of waiting for Luffy to come up with something.</p><p>After setting the course to Mihawk's island the boys and Benn spent the day inside telling stories. They loved to hear about some of the adventures the crew had been on and Benn loved to listen to their stories from the island, even if half of them worried him. "We worked together in the end to defeat the tiger!" Ace and Sabo nodded. "It was mainly Sabo and me though." Luffy looked over. "Hey! I helped a lot!" "Yeah, as a slingshot for Ace!" They started bickering and Benn just smiled. The door opened and Shanks walked in. "Telling stories without me?" Luffy ran over to Shanks. "We were telling pa about how we took down a big tiger one time!!" Shanks' smile widened. "Really? That must have been amazing teamwork to take down a tiger." Luffy nodded and the two went back over to the others. "Any other stories we haven't heard." Ace and Sabo tried to think of something when Luffy spoke. "I was beaten up by pirates!" Both adults were concerned. "What?!" Ace and Sabo both looked away whistling. "Ace. Sabo. What happened?" Sabo looked over and smiled nervously. "We may or may not have skipped over the part where the reason we started to be nice to Luffy was that we accidentally let him get kidnapped and tortured by pirates..." Benn stared at him before sighing and holding his head in his hand. "I swear you boys will be the death of me..." Shanks was just sitting there quietly. "Who were the pirates?" "Bluejam and his crew. They still live in Gray Terminal but they probably stopped looking for us since we kind of just disappeared." Luffy laughed a bit. "We did beat-up part of his crew though!" Ace nodded as Sabo drifted off into thought.</p><p>Benn noticed Sabo had spaced out. "Sabo, what are you thinking about?" Sabo looked over at the four. "Thinking of Gray Terminal made me wonder if my parents ever really cared or noticed I disappeared. Benn sighed quietly and reached over, ruffling his hair. "Who cares what they think. You're our kids now, plus you have your brothers who care." Luffy smiled and nodded excitedly as Ace just agreed quietly. Shanks smiled fondly at the four before smiling brightly. "We're a strange family but who cares!" The boys smiled and Luffy tackle hugged Shanks as the other two laughed. Benn smiled, grabbing the other two and pulling them into the pile before hugging them. "We're strange but that just makes our bond stronger."</p><p>The small family spent the rest of the day relaxing for once, which was unusual, but very welcome. The next few days were as normal as possible with the three onboard. Shanks still had no idea where they were going, only that it was in the new world since they had gone through the calm belt. They were less than an hour away from Mihawk's island when Luffy accidentally let it slip where they were going. "We're going to Mihawk's?!" Benn nodded as Luffy bounced around excitedly. "He's determined to meet the kid he adopted and befriend him. Shanks pouted. "But Mihawk's house is a big creepy castle. It's so dull. How could he live there." Luffy was even more excited hearing the place was a castle. "I get to see a castle!" Benn facepalmed. "He's going to get lost in the castle.." Shanks smiled, thinking of something. "You get to find him when he does since I have to go to Mihawk's place." Benn looked up at him and sighed. "Fine."</p><p>They reached the island and Luffy tried to run off immediately. Benn was ready though and caught him. "You can't just run off here, there's some dangerous wildlife." Ace and Sabo were being good for once, not liking the thick fog limiting their vision. "It'll only take a minute to get to the castle then you can run around all you like. Just no breaking stuff." Luffy nodded and was finally set down as Shanks walked over. "Alright, let's get going boys!"</p><p>The group was off after that, walking through the fog. Luffy was eventually just picked up as he kept getting too excited and almost running off. Ace was pretending not to care but was being very conscious of their surroundings. Sabo was walking next to Benn, asking about what the things living here were like. It really didn't take long to reach the castle. All three boys were stunned by it since they had never seen a building so big. "Woah! Hawk-dude lives there?" Benn nodded and set him down. "Yep." Luffy was off to the doors in seconds leaving the others to catch up. They had barely gotten to the door when Luffy finally knocked. The door opened and Luffy looked around before walking in. Sabo shivered, looking at the doors. "No one is here, how did they open..?" Ace just sped up a bit, getting closer to Luffy. Shanks smiled at their little reactions. Benn looked at the three fondly. "Let's go, Mihawk probably know we're here already."</p><p>They traveled through the halls till they found a room where Mihawk was sitting in a chair with his head in one of his hands lazily. "Hello Shanks. Benn. Little gremlin children." Luffy smiled and ran up to him. "Hawk-dude! Where's your kid?" Mihawk shrugged. "Somewhere in the castle, he keeps getting lost but somehow never actually leave the castle." Shanks laughed. "Seems like you picked up a strange one." Mihawk sighed. "I blame you for this." Benn walked over and sat down. "Do you regret it though?" He rolled his eyes. "You know I don't so why do you ask?" Benn pointed to the two older boys who were watching him closely. "They probably would have attacked you if you said you did." Mihawk looked at the two before shrugging. "You two can go try and find him. The third one already ran off somewhere." Shanks looked around. "Oh, he did." Mihawk and Benn facepalmed. "How do you have room to judge me when you didn't even notice?" Benn looked up as the other two boys ran out. "There they go. If they break something I'm not paying for it since you told them they could go." Mihawk shrugged. "I don't care."</p><p>Luffy ran through the castle, excited by everything he saw. He eventually rounded a corner and ran straight into a boy that was a little older than himself. "Who are you?" Luffy smiled brightly. "I'm Luffy, and I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!" The boy looked at him a little longer before smirking. "Well, I'm Zoro. I'm gonna be the greatest swordsman." Luffy's smile widened. "You should join my crew when I can be a pirate." Zoro looked dumbfounded. "No way! It'll just slow me down." Luffy laughed. "Alright, you don't have to join just yet then!" "Who said I was joining at all?! You aren't even a pirate yet!!!"</p><p>Sabo and Ace found Luffy and Zoro pretty easily as they were both very loud. When Zoro saw the other two he got ready to attack before Luffy ran over to them. "Ace! Sabo! This is Zoro! He's gonna be on my crew too!" "No, I'm not!" Sabo laughed a little as Ace shook his head. "It's no use, he won't stop bugging you about it. "Zoro crossed his arms and walked away. "No." Luffy followed after him and the two continued to argue until Sabo suggested they do something fun.</p><p>The fun started with a game of tag and ended with three very angry/worried parents. "How the hell did you four end up this far away from the castle?" The four looked up at Benn who was the main one lecturing them. "Well, after we got lost we asked Zoro to try and figure out the way back since he lives here and somehow got farther away." Mihawk facepalmed. "Zoro has no sense of direction you three." Suddenly this whole situation made sense to Ace and Sabo. Luffy was just laughing about the situation. Benn calmed down some seeing none of them were actually hurt or anything and sighed. "You will be some interesting teens..." Mihawk looked over at Benn. "If he gets lost as a teen he's fending for himself till he makes it back home."</p><p>The rest of the visit was spent with the boys being stuck in the same room as the adults. Zoro took a nap as Luffy tried to bug him about joining his crew in the future. After he had fallen asleep the three still away decided to train against each other. Mihawk was interested in the way they fought while Shanks was just excited to see them improving. Benn had made the whole crew promise not to physically train them or coach them. Telling them stuff about cooking or navigating was fine though. The boys were also okay with it since they had been training like that forever and it worked for them.</p><p>After Ace and Sabo had just barely tied after beating Luffy by a long shot, the family decided it was time to leave since the navy always got antsy if they heard Shanks and Mihawk were with each other for long periods of time. Zoro 'slept' through them leaving, not wanting to deal with Luffy bugging him again. Mihawk told them not to come back to which Shanks replied they would, which greatly confused Luffy. The five walked back to the ship to see the crew drinking and eating while waiting for the others. "Hey, are you guys drinking all the booze!" Benn shook his head as the boys laughed at Shanks running over to the ship.</p><p>After they finally were back on the sea they were thinking of what they could do. "I want to see more places!" Ace and Sabo nodded along to Luffy's outburst. "You wouldn't be very surprised when you visit them on your adventure though if we visited them now." Luffy looked very conflicted. "Hmmm..." Shanks laughed before someone ran up. "Captain, we got a problem! Apparently, Big Mom is trying to pick a fight with us again!" Shanks sighed. "We're gonna have to go over there and deal with it then." He looked over at the boys. "We can't take you boys though..." Ace furrowed his brow. "Why not?" Shanks rubbed his neck, trying to think of a way to explain it. "Because Big Mom is a very powerful pirate that event the government can barely touch." Sabo looked over at Benn. "There are pirates like that?" Benn nodded. "And Shanks is technically one of them. Which is why it's so safe for you to be with us." Luffy smiled. "Why not leave us with Dadan for a little while?" Shanks looked at him. "That's not a bad idea." Benn nodded. "You boys would need to promise to stay out of trouble though." The three nodded. "Alright. Back to Foosha to meet those bandits again!" Benn sighed. "Just call us if you think you're in danger and we'll come running." Ace and Sabo nodded as Luffy smiled brightly."</p><p>With that, the ship was on it's way back to the east blue to drop the boys off. "Hopefully we'll only be gone for a weak at most." Luffy frowned. "I'm gonna miss you dad, pa!" Shanks smiled, trying to stop the tears in his eyes. "We'll be back quicker than you think!" Sabo smiled and hugged Benn. Ace crossed his arms with a small smile before Benn pulled him into a hug and Shanks and Luffy joined in. "We'll just have to have some fun on the way there and when we get back." "Okay!"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Incident.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A quick thing before I start! The reason the boys are quick to accept and see Shanks and Benn as parents! Luffy is pretty simple, the whole crew had already been parent like to him so it was only a matter of them actually having to take care of him  24/7 for him to call them dad and pa. Sabo was quick to accept them because they showed him what parental love was like and since he had never had good parents he quickly accepted that they were his actual parents. Ace still isn't really used to calling them dad or pa yet but he does love them. They don't yell at him for being different or struggling with certain things and instead will just talk through stuff or let it go, so he loves them both like parents.</p><p>Okay, I haven't started it yet but I have a feeling I'll cry while writing this because these three mean so much to me. I'll add a note under here when I cry to so you guys will know XD</p><p>Okay, I haven't cried yet, but I only just found out there's a lot more One Piece movies than I thought. I'm gonna have to find a place to watch them and binge-watch the ones I can now XD (At least I'll have something to do now!)</p><p>I have started crying now. Listening to music that reminds me of the three didn't help qwq</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The boys had just said their goodbyes and were looking around Dadan's home again. "This is weird, huh Ace?" Ace nodded. "I didn't think we'd be back here." Luffy smiled. "We get to say hi to everyone before we leave again though. Maybe we can say by before we leave this time!" Ace and Sabo smiled at Luffy's antics. The three put their stuff down and immediately ran out the door to go explore again. They still remembered the place like the back of their hands and were at Gray Terminal before they knew it.</p><p>"I think we've definitely gotten faster." Ace nodded, holding on to Luffy's shirt so he didn't start running ahead. Ace looked over at the gate, seeing more security than usual. "I wonder what happened." Sabo looked over and frowned. "We should try to find out. We can ask Dadan, if she doesn't know one of us can just sneak into town and ask around while the other two ask around Gray Terminal." The other two nodded before making their way back to Dadan's.</p><p>When they got back they immediately went up to Dadan. "Do you know what's happening in the town and Gray Terminal?" Dadan looked over. "I'm not too sure, but they're definitely planning something. Don't go over there for a while." The boys all shared a look, knowing they weren't going to listen. They spent the rest of the day running around and fighting any animal they saw. Once it had started to get dark they headed back to the house, bringing along all they caught.</p><p>"I caught the biggest one!" "Mine was the hardest to catch though!" Sabo sighed as Ace and Luffy tried to decide who 'won'. "Let's just get back so we can eat." Luffy agreed and sped up. Sabo sped up to walk next to Ace. "What do you think is happening?" Ace glanced at him. The nobles are probably trying to discourage them or something. We'll figure it out tomorrow." Sabo nodded but couldn't shake a bad feeling in his gut, it was similar to the past but he couldn't place what exactly.</p><p>They ate a lot that night and went to bed early. Sabo couldn't sleep well though so he got out of bed. He wanted to talk to Benn about his bad feeling but figured it wasn't a good enough reason to call. He got down and went outside, looking up at the stars. "Something smells worse than Gray Terminal in this country..." He sat out there for a little while, trying to think of what Benn might say to him. He couldn't really think of anything though. Benn always seemed level-headed but you'd never be able to guess what he's thinking. Sabo decided to go back in and sleep, pushing the feeling aside.</p><p>When the sun rose the boys were already gone. It was easiest to get past the guards in the morning. They had decided Sabo would go through since Ace and Luffy were too out of place there. Those two were going to Gray Terminal to ask if anyone knew anything. Sabo got in easily and saw only a few people out and about. He noticed one old man that didn't seem too busy and walked over to him. "Hey, sir. Do you know what's going on?" The old man looked down at him and smiled. "We should be quiet about the plan, but they're burning Gray Terminal today. The walls should already be going up so no one can escape." Sabo's eyes widened as the man continued to smile. 'He's insane!' He turned and left, looking to see everyone else that was outside was also smiling. 'They all are! They know people are in danger and only smile! They caused the last fire to didn't they! It's the people here that smell worse than Gray Terminal!' Sabo ran towards the gate. 'I need to warn Ace and Luffy! They're in danger, I don't know if I can make it this time!!'</p><p>Ace and Luffy were both in Gray Terminal asking around together. No one knew anything other than the entry kept getting stricter and stricter. They were planning on giving up when they heard yelling and ran to investigate. They saw a man freaking out about all of them being stuck here with only the sea as an exit. Ace frowned and grabbed Luffy's arm, going to see if the guy was telling the truth. Luffy looked back over towards Gray Terminal, his eyes widening in fear. "Ace! Fire!" Ace turned around and saw that fire was catching everywhere and spreading like wildfire. Ace looked around, trying to think of a way out when the two heard footsteps. "Well, well, look who we finally found." They turned to see Bluejam. "What do you want?!" Bluejam laughed. "Many things. One is to tell you that you're trapped here. The nobles are burning everyone here." Luffy grabbed onto the back of Ace's shirt as he glared.</p><p>"Where's the third one of you? Did he leave?" Ace clenched his fists before charging forward, grabbing a pipe as he went and attacking him. Before he could land a hit he heard a yelp and saw Luffy had been grabbed by one of the other pirates. Ace stopped and turned to attack the pirate holding Luffy when he was also grabbed. "Let Luffy go!" Bluejam laughed. "No. Now, where was I? Oh yes, your little friend that abandoned you." Ace was beyond angry and the fire was only growing closer to them. "He did not abandon us! He went to figure out what was happening!" "But he never came back? Are you sure he didn't go back to his life as a noble, away from danger like this?" Ace growled at the man. "Stop bad talking Sabo!" Luffy agreed as he struggled before biting the man holding him's arm. The man dropped Luffy but slashed him as soon as he had landed.</p><p>The only sound Ace heard and could focus on was Luffy's yell of pain. He looked over to see Luffy on the ground and the man raising his sword. "DON'T TOUCH LUFFY!!!" He felt the arms around him loosen and he ran to Luffy. "Luffy!" Luffy didn't respond only cover his eyes and cry, rolling around in pain. He heard movement and turned around quickly, grabbing the nearest weapon. Bluejam was pissed. Ace stood in between him and Luffy before he saw Dadan and the other mountain bandits. "Boys!" Ace was glad to see them but still watching Bluejam carefully. One of the bandits grabbed Luffy as Dadan stood next to Ace. "We need to leave!" Ace shook his head stubbornly. "I'm not leaving!" Dadan wanted to protest but Ace had already attacked Bluejam.</p><p>Sabo watched from his jail, his old room, as the walls of Gray Terminal glowed orange behind them. Sabo cried in that room, praying his brothers had gotten out. It had only been minutes since he had been running to warn them. He had run into his family and had to run from them. He bumped into a man, a stranger to the island, and finally let out what he'd been thinking. "If I stay here I'll never be free!" The man seemed to understand but before he could speak Sabo was up and off again. The man watched him run away, his mind telling him not to leave yet, so he didn't.</p><p>Sabo looked over at his desk near the window. Standing up he decided once and for all he was going to leave. He was going to sneak out in the morning and set sail. Sabo stood up and walked over to his desk. He grabbed a pen and paper, writing a note to his brothers. He finished the note and looked out the window before smiling a small smile and grabbing another paper. Writing another letter. This one to his parents. His real parents. Not the ones that wanted him only for their own benefit.</p><p>Ace and Dadan had barely beaten Bluejam with each other's help after the others ran with Luffy. "Why wouldn't you run?" Ace leaned back, trying to catch his breath. "I know it's stupid to never run away, but, at that moment, Luffy was behind me." Dadan looked at the boy. "Let's just get home.." Ace nodded and got up as Dadan turned to look for a path through the fire. "We need to move quickly or we'll be in trouble." Ace nodded and the two were off, getting as close to the forest as they could before Dadan used herself to get through the fire. She was burned, but not badly. Ace helped her to a safe spot and set her down, running to get some of the plants that he knew would help. As he ran back to where they were hiding for the night he thought quietly to himself. 'Luffy, Sabo, please be okay...'</p><p>Luffy was treated by the bandits after they got back and he slept for hours, concerning most of them until he woke up at midnight. "Ace! Where's Ace? Where's Sabo?" "Luffy, calm down! I'm sure they're fine, it's late, they're probably waiting for morning to avoid getting hurt. Luffy quieted down but he was constantly looking out the window that night. Multiple times he tried to go outside but they stopped him. After a while, he fell asleep again near the window.</p><p>Sabo awoke early that morning, only a little while after Luffy had fallen asleep. He took the letters and snuck out of the house he had been confined to. He ran to the treehouse and put the notes down before going back toward the town. He had made a small boat before they left with Shanks, he could only hope it was still there. He looked up at the sky as he ran through the town. 'Sorry you guys, I love you though..'</p><p>Ace was awake early as well, intent on getting back to Luffy and to find Sabo. Dadan was still asleep so he just lifted her as well as he could and started on his way back, taking longer than normal but not too long since they weren't incredibly far. As soon as he saw the house he woke Dadan. She was a bit surprised but smiled ever so slightly. Ace let go of her after they came into the clearing, just in time as well as Luffy tackled him, crying as much as when he had been caught by Porchemy. Ace huffed and put a hand on his head. "Did you think I was dead? I won't die that easily idiot!" Magra waved his hand slightly. "Now now Ace, he's just happy you're alright." Ace sighed as Luffy continued to cry.</p><p>The group went inside the building and stayed there, making sure Ace and Dadan were fine. Luffy was smiling again since Ace was fine. Suddenly, Dogra came barging in with a look of pure grief. Dadan looked over worried as Dogra began to speak. "Sabo...Sabo's dead!" Ace jumped up. "What?!" Luffy was staring at Dogra in shock as Ace ran to hit him but was stopped by some of the other bandits. "I saw, he was on a small ship and it was shot at..." Ace was raging, trying to get out of the bandits' grip to go and kill whoever killed his brother. "Die Ace too a tree! Don't let him leave!" Ace was tied to a tree with a lot of struggling. None of them were able to think straight after everything that had happened. After Ace was tied up it was quiet, the only sound being Luffy's non-stop tears.</p><p>Luffy continued to cry for the next day as Ace stayed tied to the tree. He had calmed down finally but still glared at anyone who got near him. "Let me down already. I won't do anything." Dadan sighed. "Fine." Dogra and Magra untied Ace who glared at them before walking angrily into the forest, going wherever his feet took him. He ended up at the treehouse. Looking up he decided to climb up, not really knowing why just feeling like he should. When he got to the top he saw two letters. One addressed to him and Luffy. The other for their parents. Ace shakily picked up the one addressed to Luffy and himself, reading it:</p><p>Hey Ace, I know you're probably mad I set out to sea suddenly but I realized something. I'll never be free if I have connections to this town. I saw my parents and they haven't changed... I knew they wouldn't. I also knew that this kingdom was rotten. Luffy's probably mad at me too huh? Tell him I'm sorry and that I'll join his crew as soon as he sets sail! Till then, make sure you take care of him, Ace. He's our baby brother and one that attracts danger at that. Oh, give dad and pa their letter too!</p><p>Ace's grip on the letter tightened as he read. He felt the tears in his eyes finally roll down his cheeks as he began to cry. He couldn't help it. He rarely cried because he had to be strong but he couldn't right then, he had lost his brother. Ace sat on his knees, crying for the next hour before he took the letter addressed to their parents and climbed down. He was going to go find Luffy. They needed to call Shanks and Benn, they should have done it right away, but first, Ace needed to find Luffy.</p><p>Ace was right in thinking Luffy would be on the cliff edge. He was laying face down crying still. "How long are you gonna keep crying?" Luffy just sniffled and pulled on his hat. "We should live freely, something Sabo wasn't able to do..." Luffy sat up. "I kn-know...but I want to get stronger...I want to get stronger!" Ace looked over at Luffy. He was still crying and he sighed. "Then we can train." The two stayed there for a minute before Luffy spoke again. "A-Ace...please don't die..." Ace looked at him. "Huh?! You're telling me that! I'm stronger than you, worry about yourself! Look at me, I will not die!" Luffy looked at him, his tears finally stopping. "I may not know what killed Sabo, but I won't die." Luffy nodded, standing up. "We just need to get even stronger!" Ace smirked. "Yeah!"</p><p>The two headed back to Dadan's after that. Ace was the one to bring up calling Shanks and Benn. Dadan was scared of his reaction but agreed. Ace walked over to his bag, Luffy close behind him, looking through it for the transponder snail Benn had given him. He found it and sat down, putting it in front of him. He took a breath before calling, trying to think of how he would tell them as it rang. It kept on ringing though, no one was picking up. Ace stared at it, his nervousness turning to anger. He knew they were probably in a fight and couldn't answer, but why now of all times. Ace tried to calm down but couldn't, standing up and storming outside. Luffy watched the snail ring a little longer before following after Ace.</p><p>Outside Ace ended up yelling at Luffy, causing a fight between the two. The last time they had an actual fight was when Luffy tried to make Ace talk about Roger. Sabo was there to fix it last time however. Ace yelled at Luffy and the two decided they didn't want to share a house, for the time being, making small forts outside. Dadan was the one that had to deal with their fight, in the end, having to mediate between the two as they sat outside grumpily.</p><p>The next few days were spent training, arguing, and trying to contact Shanks and Benn. Today was a day they were training again. It had finally been a week since the crew left them here. So much had happened in so little time so both boys hadn't actually had time to think it over and deal with it, especially with their fight. "I'm gonna defeat the next thing so you stay out of my way!" Ace rolled his eyes and hopped up onto a tree branch as the two heard large footsteps. Luffy got into a stance, ready to fight as a bear burst through the trees. Luffy's eyes widened. "Ace you gotta help me! It's a bear!" Ace watched him lazily from the tree. "I thought you said you'd beat it though." Luffy clenched his jaw and attacked the bear, landing a few hits that didn't affect it at all. Luffy was in the air when the bear struck, hitting him directly in the chest.</p><p>Ace's eyes widened in fear as he saw blood and the beloved straw hat fly away from Luffy's body. "LUFFY!" Jumping down, he hit the bear, scaring it and causing it to run. Ace frantically looked at Luffy, not sure what to do before he carefully picked him up. He was about to run back to Dadan's when he saw the hat and grabbed it too. Ace moved as fast as he could but not fast to the point he would hurt Luffy more. He was mad. Mad at himself for not being a good big brother and letting Luffy get hurt. 'Goddammit!'</p><p>It wasn't long before Ace made it back and got Dadan's help. "Any deeper and Luffy might have died.." Ace sat against the wall and covered his head. 'I'm a horrible big brother... I swear I won't give anything else a chance to kill you ever again Luffy.' Dadan looked over to Ace. "Ace, try calling Shanks and Benn again." Her usual snappiness was gone, she knew Ace was having a rough time right now. Ace slowly got up and made his way over to the transponder snail, trying once again to call his dads'.</p><p>Ace looked up as he heard a small click. "Hello? Boys? Is something wrong?" Ace, hearing Benn's voice, started to cry, scaring the bandits and worrying Benn. "Ace? Ace is that you? What's wrong?" Ace couldn't stop crying after he started and Dadan picked up the snail. "Hello, Benn?" "Dadan." Dadan looked over at the crying Ace then at Luffy's unconscious body. "There's no real way to put this lightly, but you can't blame yourselves because the boys need you." The transponder snail relayed his worry. "Dadan, what happened? Why is Ace crying?" Dadan took a breath. "Sabo was involved in an incident and died. Luffy is also severely injured right now from a bear attack." The line on the other end was quiet and all anyone could hear was Ace crying.</p><p>Benn stared in shock at the snail as Shanks processed what he had heard. Benn regained his composure quickly. "We're heading over there right now, we aren't too far away, it'll maybe take a day. But what the hell happened?!" Shanks sat down next to Benn, intertwining his hand with one of Benn's. Dadan spoke quietly. "The nobles had a plan to burn everyone in Gray Terminal. Luffy and Ace were caught in the fire itself but escaped with our help. Ace said Sabo was in town at the time so I can only assume something happened during that time. Dogra, who was in town, says he saw Sabo setting off to sea when a Celestial Dragon's ship shot at his small boat, sinking it."  Shanks' grip tightened as he tried to stop the urge to go attack the Celestial Dragons. "Ace almost went and fought them but we stopped him. A day or two after Ace finally talked with Luffy. They made a plan to get stronger but then started to argue when they couldn't get a hold of you two. They would compete against each other and Ace just got back carrying Luffy on his back."</p><p>It was a lot to take in for the two, but they knew how dangerous life was. Their main worry was Ace and Luffy right now. "Can you give the snail back to Ace?" "I will." There was some noise of movement and the snail's face changed and it was crying quietly. "Ace. We're gonna be there soon so you just keep watching over Luffy, and please, don't blame yourself. If anything, blame the government." There was a small sniffle and Shanks' took the snail. "You and Luffy are gonna get stronger and you're gonna chase your dreams, for yourselves, and for your bond as brothers." There were more sniffles before Ace actually responded. "I'm a bad brother though..." Benn immediately took the snail. "Don't you dare say that! You boys love each other and you do everything you can when it comes down to it. You are not allowed to put yourself down for something you couldn't help and things you can't change. All you can do is get stronger. Get stronger than me or Shanks and never let anyone hurt your loved ones again." Ace's crying slowly died down. "I'm gonna stay with Luffy. I was planning on starting my own crew, but I don't want anything to hurt him again." Shanks smiled. "I'm sure Luffy will be thrilled when he finds out. Now, we'll be back soon, we'll figure stuff out from there."</p><p>The family said their goodbyes and hung up. Ace didn't know what to do as he watched Luffy sleep. He wanted to spend the time getting stronger but he didn't want to leave Luffy's side. He was planning on actually thinking things over as he waited for either Luffy to wake up or his dads' to arrive. It didn't take long for him to actually think about everything though. He knew what he wanted to do and he knew Sabo would like his decision. He wasn't going to dwell on the past. He was gonna get strong enough to protect everyone he loves. He was never gonna forget the past though, he would just move on from it.</p><p>As Ace thought about how he could get stronger, there was a small knock as Makino peered into the room. "Ace?" Ace looked over and could tell from her worried look she knew everything that had happened. Ace stood up and walked over, gently pushing her outside. "How do I treat people with respect?" Makino was surprised at first but smiled. "Well, it's not a hard thing, there are a few things you should always do.</p><p>With that, Ace spent the next day and a half learning how to be respectful and kind. Luffy woke up halfway through the first day but wasn't allowed to do anything because Benn specifically said he wasn't allowed to. Luffy did listen in on Makino teaching Ace how to be kind and picked up a few more things since he already knew most of it from before he had met Ace. Luffy was excited to hear that Shanks and Benn would be back in less than two days. So as soon as Makino had left and the boys had nothing to do, they were anxiously waiting for Shanks and Benn and everyone else to come back finally. It had barely been more than a week but it felt like so much longer since so much had happened. Ace had to physically hold down Luffy so he didn't start running around and accidentally open his wounds again.</p><p>It was mid-afternoon when Shanks and Benn showed up at the house. Luffy immediately ran over and hugged the two, Ace was a bit slower but he hugged them both as well. Luffy had started crying again, finally letting himself think about everything that had happened really because his dads' were back. Ace smiled slightly. "You're a crybaby." Luffy stuck out his tongue, causing Shanks to laugh. Benn smiled, seeing that the two were going to be fine. "Do you wanna go home now?" Luffy and Ace looked at him and nodded. Both parents smiled. "Let's go then."</p><p>It was a long way back to the ship but they walked in general silence before Luffy spoke. "Can stuff stay the same? I don't want it to change and Sabo wouldn't either." Ace nodded, knowing Sabo wouldn't want that as well. Shanks looked at Benn before smiling softly at the two. "Nothing is gonna change, one of us is just watching from somewhere else now." Benn nodded. "Probably judging us too." Luffy nodded. "Definitely judging us." Shanks laughed as Benn shook his head with a small smile.</p><p>After they got back to the ship and were back on the sea they sat down and talked. Benn made sure that they actually did talk about everything that had happened. He knew it wasn't good to keep everything bottled up. Ace was surprisingly out in the open about it and that made Benn happy. He could tell Ace was changing himself for the better. Luffy's not wanting to talk about what had happened didn't surprise him. He had always been more the type to cry or yell then push it down. It's how he was when Shanks lost his arm as well. "Luffy, you can't just push it down. If your sad you can tell us or cry or do whatever you need." Luffy sat there for a minute before nodding, small tears forming again. "I'm gonna get strong enough so no one ever gets hurt again.." Benn placed a hand on his head. "You'll be plenty strong, I promise." Ace nodded. "Plus, I've decided I will join you, so I can help you protect people!" Luffy looked over at him. "You're gonna join my crew?!" Ace smiled and nodded. "Yep!" Luffy hopped up and down before launching himself at Ace, who was ready to catch him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sabo being aware they've done this before is because the boys had been through a fire in Gray Terminal before, they just never found out how it started as it hadn't been as well planned and most everyone was able to get out into the surrounding forest till the fire was out before going back.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. From Kids to Pirates!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I have no idea what to say so just enjoy I guess :3</p><p>Oh, one thing. Marco is 3 years older than Ace in my story ^^</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next 10 years were eventful for the crew and the boys. There was never a dull moment as they got older and stronger. At one point Luffy knocked Shanks into the water in the calm belt which caused a whole mess. Another time, Ace and Luffy ate most of their meat and they had to make multiple stops to stock up again. Some of the more eventful times were when the boys accidentally got involved with other pirates. Luffy always seemed to be the one that caused the messes with pirates though.</p><p>One time a pirate by the name Corazon showed up on their ship to ask Shanks a good place he could hideout for a long time. Luffy, 12, wanted to know who he was popped up out of nowhere, scaring Corazon and causing him to fall in the water. Shanks was the one that had to get him again since he couldn't swim. Luffy was then nagged at while Shanks talked to Corazon. Luffy never did get to talk to the pirate. Ace listened in to part of their conversation though and learned that Corazon was the second in command of the Heart Pirates. Ace, 15, put them down as possibly trustworthy in his mind.</p><p>That was a habit he had picked up from the many pirates they'd seen. Most times he was keeping Luffy from coming out when pirates were on the ship since Luffy loved to make friends and talk to people. The main importance of the list was to find out about the other yonkos and the warlords. The only yonko other than Shanks that Ace thought was possibly trustworthy was Whitebeard. They had never seen even one of his ships but Shanks had gone to talk to him a few times and Benn told them he just goes to drink. As for the warlords at the time he didn't trust any of them other than Mihawk. Ace knew Mihawk would probably kick their asses if necessary but wouldn't kill them.</p><p>Another time the boys got in trouble was when Luffy, 15, challenged Ace, 18, to find some treasure on the island a map Lucky Roo had found. The two spent forever on the island and worried Benn out of his wits because it wasn't that big of an island. Eventually, when they got back they learned why they were gone so long. Ace accidentally ate a devil fruit he had found on the island and couldn't figure out what was happening until Luffy found him and laughed his ass off. Shanks found it incredibly funny as well until Ace accidentally lit part of the ship on fire out of embarrassment. Benn hit both Luffy and Shanks' head before trying to help Ace learn to control his new fire powers.</p><p>That same year, before Ace accidentally ate the devil fruit, Mihawk had shown up on their ship yet again. Luffy was the first to greet him, and also almost knock both them off the ship. Mihawk had gotten used to the bubbly boy coming over with Shanks to try and convince Zoro to join his crew so he was able to keep them from falling off. Benn walked over and waved at Mihawk. "No Zoro today?" Mihawk shrugged. "He got lost and when I found him again he told me he was gonna be a bounty hunter so I let him go be a bounty hunter." Shanks, who was just walking over, laughed his ass off as Benn sighed. "You just let him go be a bounty hunter. Did you even train him how to fight?" Mihawk stared at Benn and Benn face palmed. "No you didn't, why am I even asking. I swear I don't know if you or Shanks' is more lenient with kids." Mihawk and Shanks both opened their mouths to argue but stopped when Benn glared at them. "Don't you even start."</p><p>Luffy laughed quietly as he watched Benn lecture Mihawk and Shanks. Ace walked over, tilting his head at the scene. "Hey Luf, what's up with them?" Luffy looked up from where he was sitting. "Mi's getting yelled at for letting Zoro go off and be a bounty hunter and dad somehow got dragged in too." Ace laughed some. "We should go before pa lectures us too then. Luffy laughed and jumped up. "Race you to the kitchen!" Luffy was off before Ace could even process what he had said. "Hey wait, that's unfair!" Benn paused his lecture and looked at the two boys shaking his head.</p><p>A year after Ace getting his devil fruit power's was another big incident however. Ace was messing around with his powers, which he had gotten a pretty good grasp of, when the ship got caught in a storm and he accidentally fell overboard. He woke up on a small island with no sign of the ship nearby. He knew he wouldn't get far if he made a raft and there was food and water so he decided to stay and wait there. It was a day or two later when he saw a large ship nearby. He was going to let it pass when he recognized the symbol. It was Whitebeard's ship. Ace had to debate with himself pretty hard before decided to call out to them for help. He figured if his dad could go and get drunk there just because he was fine to get help after getting thrown overboard and dealing with his weakness to the sea for one of the first times.</p><p>The crew on the ship had seen him waving on the island. "Hey Pops, there's a kid on the island over there. He seems to be stuck or something." Tatch called from the side of the ship. Whitebeard looked over before getting up and walking over to look. Ace from the island seemed to pause in his waving seeing Whitebeard walk over. "I think you scared him Pops." Whitebeard laughed a little. "Marco, would you go get him?" Marco, a young man that kind of resembled a pineapple, groaned and got up. "Why do I gotta?" "Because you can fly." "Oh yeah. I'll be back in a minute." Marco stepped up onto the railing as his arms changed into firey wings.</p><p>Ace saw the guy that looked a few years older than himself change his arms into flaming wings and fly over. "Hey." Ace blinked at the blunt greeting. "Uh, hi? Are you one of Whitebeard's crew members?" Ace didn't know why but he kept staring at the guy. Marco nodded. "Yeah, he wants you to come over onto the ship but I figured I should probably ask you before just kinda scooping you up out of nowhere." Ace didn't respond for a second. "Yeah, probably a good idea, I would have ended up falling into the sea." Marco looked confused. "You think I'd drop you?" Ace shook his head and held up his hand, letting it turn into flames and Marco made an 'o' with his mouth. "Yeah, that would have been bad. Would have had to throw Thatch into the ocean though, that would have been funny. Well, we should probably get to the ship." Ace nodded and felt warmer as Marco got closer and grabbed him, flying them back over to the ship.</p><p>Once on the ship, he could actually see how big it was. "Woah..." Whitebeard was watching him as he looked around. "Never been on a pirate ship before?" Ace looked over and shook his head. "I have, I live on one actually. Your ship is just huge compared to dad's." Whitebeard was amused by him. "What's your name?" Ace turned to him and smiled. "Portgas D. Ace!" Marco looked away when Ace smiled and Whitebeard glanced at him, gaining a bigger smile. "You wouldn't happen to be Shanks' kid would you?" Ace was surprised. "Dad talks about me?" Whitebeard laughed. "Shanks talks about you and your younger brother, Luffy I think it was, all the time." Ace smiled happily. "Well, I am." Whitebeard looked at him and Marco turned to look at him again. "How'd you end up on that island?" Ace's face turned red and small sparks popped off his face as he mumbled something.</p><p>Whitebeard leaned down some. "Sorry, I didn't hear you." Ace huffed and looked to the side. "I fell off the ship during a storm and-" He paused and his eyes widened. "Luffy!" Both Whitebeard and Marco looked at him as he quickly changed moods. "He's gonna be worried! Oh no, oh no-" Ace was stopped by Marco putting his hands on his shoulders. "Woah, slow down pop rocks. Luffy's your brother right?" Ace nodded as his face slowly reddened at their closeness. "Then he should be on your ship still, right? We can just call Red-Hair and tell them you're here." Ace nodded slowly before smiling. "Thank you!" Whitebeard smiled down at the two knowingly.</p><p>Marco had lead Ace to the transponder snail and was planning to leave while they talked but Ace waved him to stay. Shanks was the one to pick up and Marco could tell he was irritable by the tone of his voice, it honestly scared him since he'd only seen Red-Hair in a good mood. "Hello?" Ace laughed a bit. "You sound grumpy." "Ace!" Ace laughed some more as he heard a loud crash. "LUFFY I SWEAR IF YOU BREAK ONE MORE DOOR!" Ace laughed even more as he heard Benn in the background. "Ace! It's you!" "Yes, it's me Luffy, did you take the transponder snail?" There was a laugh from Luffy and then a smacking noise. Marco was looking at Ace with a smile and a small blush. Ace looked over to Marco. "They're like this a lot Marco." Shank's voice came through again. "Marco?" Ace looked back at the snail. "I ended up on some island and Whitebeard's ship passes by. I'm with them right now." Shanks sighed in relief. "I'm glad you're safe at least. Isn't Marco that chicken though?" "I'm not a chicken!" Ace burst out laughing, causing Marco to blush and turn away.</p><p>After talking for a little while they figured out a spot they could meet up so Ace could go back with his family. It would take a while though so Ace had time to meet some of the Whitebeard crew and get to know Whitebeard more. One thing the whole crew noticed was that wherever Ace went Marco wasn't far behind. Whitebeard found it extra amusing and eventually called the two over. "What do you think of my family, Ace?" Ace smiled some. "It's nice. They're your treasure aren't they?" Whitebeard smiled more. "Most people don't figure that out." Ace put his hands behind his head. "I have a pretty similar treasure." "What do you think of Marco? He's been climbing the ranks since he got his devil fruit power you know." Ace looked over at Marco, I think his power is neat." Marco felt a small blush again. "I'm still better than him though." Marco looked over partially offended as Whitebeard laughed. "Shut it pop rocks." "Says the chicken." The two started bickering slightly as Whitebeard laughed. Thatch, who was walking by and saw the whole thing, called out just before he entered a room. "Just kiss already!" Causing both to freeze and Whitebeard to laugh even more.</p><p>Ace's face turned red and popped again as Marco ran after Thatch. "I'll kill you Thatch!!!" Whitebeard smiled and looked at Ace now that Marco was gone. "Do you like Marco?" Ace thought for a second before shrugging. "I think? I'm not too good with emotions." "At least you are aware of that fact." Ace nodded, watching as Marco chased Thatch back out of the room. "You know, I wouldn't mind if you two dated. It would just be more of a reason for the Red-Hairs and us to be peaceful with each other." Ace was redder than before as he looked at Whitebeard, who chuckled at his expression.</p><p>Marco ended up chasing that until he tripped and knocked over Ace, causing both to be blushing messes. Thatch found that hilarious and fell over laughing. "Like I said, just kiss already." Marco sat up and glared at Thatch. "Shut it!" Ace covered his face as he heard the popping getting louder. "Look, you flustered him Marco!" Marco was going to yell at him when he realized he did actually fluster Ace. Marco blushed and quickly stood up. "S-sorry!" Ace got up as well. "I-It's alright."</p><p>After many plans, mainly organized by Thatch, the two did end up kissing. It was an accident, but it was still a kiss. Ace got so flustered by the accidental kiss he lit part of their ship on fire. Marco kind of just malfunctioned for the next 10 minutes after it as the crew put out the fire. Whitebeard was probably the most amused by it since he had seen that they like each other instantly. After the ship was put out and the two weren't staring into space, Thatch forced both of them into a room to talk and he wouldn't let them out until they did.</p><p>In the end, the two did talk and ended up dating. Thatch thought they were gonna be making out but when he opened the door the two were taking a nap together, which only Whitebeard had guessed. The rest of the day that Ace spent on the ship was eventful between him and Marco dating, making some new friends, and being declared his son-in-law by Whitebeard despite the two only just starting to date. Marco had gotten used to the teasing fairly quickly and made it his personal goal to see how many times he could make Ace's face do the pop-rock thing.</p><p>The next day was calmer as they were getting ready for the rendezvous. "My dad might actually try to kill you." Marco looked over at him. "He calls me chicken for even being your friend, I'd be surprised if he didn't try to kill me." Ace laughed some. "Luffy might not leave you alone by the way, he is very excitable." Marco laughed. "So like a puppy?" Ace laughed. "Yep, but he's like a cat when it comes to baths." Marco laughed, knowing some of the stories about Ace and Luffy already as that's what Ace talked about all night. "Let me guess, Benn will just stare me down at first?" Ace laughed and nodded. "He is really scary when serious though so good luck." Marco sighed but continued to smile. "Your family is weirder than mine Ace." Ace shrugged. "What can I say, I was wanted before I was even a pirate." Marco rolled his eyes. "You say that but don't say why." Marco stopped when he saw the uncomfortable look cross Ace's face. "Oh, love, you don't actually have to tell me if you don't want to.." Ace looked over at him. "Really?" Marco smiled. "Of course, you don't have to talk about anything that makes you uncomfortable." Ace smiled and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Well thank you."</p><p>Shanks, Luffy, and Benn were the three that got on Whitebeards ship while the rest of the crew stayed back. Ace and Marco had been watching as they lowered anchor before Ace sighed and got up from where they were sitting, confusing those around him until Luffy came hurtling towards Ace, who caught him with ease. "You're gonna overshoot one of these times and make someone have to jump in to get you." Luffy just laughed as he hugged Ace. "Is that a normal thing you do?" Luffy turned and saw Marco. "Yep! You're Marco, right? You kinda look like a pineapple." Marco didn't know how to react and Ace burst out laughing.</p><p>Shanks and Benn were on the ship a few seconds after Luffy, walking over to Ace. Shanks was glaring at Marco before Benn hit him on the head. Benn looked at Marco for a second before turning to Whitebeard. "Thank you for helping Ace out." Whitebeard smiled and waved a hand. "It's no problem. Plus it made for something in the end." He pointed to Ace, who had finally been released from the hug and was now holding Marco's hand. Benn smiled slightly. "It did. I just hope Shanks doesn't kill Marco." The two laughed and continued to talk as Shanks stared at the two boys.</p><p>"Aaaaccceeeee, how did you fall in love with this chicken?" Luffy was looking around the ship at this point while Ace held the back of his shirt with his free hand. "Blame Thatch, he's the one that made up a million plots to get us together in the end." Shanks smiled and looked over to Thatch. "So you're the reason my son's dating a chicken." Thatch bolted into a room as Shanks was hit on the head again by Benn, who dragged him away from the three boys. Luffy looked at the two again, staring at them. Ace noticed that Luffy hadn't run off yet, sure he was holding him but it had never stopped him before. "Luffy, what's wrong?" Luffy stayed quiet for a second, confusing both Marco and Ace. "You just suddenly disappeared thanks to the sea..." Ace was about to ask why he was so worried when he stopped, letting go of Marco's hand and placing both his hands on Luffy's shoulders. "I already told you. I will not die." Luffy stared at him for a second before he started crying, hugging Ace.</p><p>Benn, Shanks, and Whitebeard looked over at him. Whitebeard was confused by the situation but from the looks of slight sadness, he figured it was something hard to talk about. "If I'm allowed to know, could you explain?" Benn patted Shanks' arm before walking over to the boys. Shanks turned to Whitebeard. "I actually had a third kid, their brother, he was involved with an incident and died." Whitebeard looked back over to Luffy, who was being hugged by Benn now as Ace seemed to be explaining to Marco as well. "They were all very close and I think Luffy took it the hardest of the three since he's the youngest and the 'weakest' of them." Whitebeard nodded. "He seems to be one who would hide his sadness though." Shanks laughed slightly. "Well, you're spot on as always. He usually tries to stay happy, the only one that can really make him open up is our little family. Sometimes the crew can if it isn't too deep a wound." Whitebeard continued to watch the boy. "How much have they actually been through." Shanks paused to think. "A lot more than they should have. Ace was 10 when the other passed, Luffy was only 7. Before that Luffy had been left by his father, he had good intent I know but he isn't the smartest father. It lead Luffy to be more clingy and he gets hurt easier if those he really loves get hurt or betray him." Whitebeard frowned ever so slightly.</p><p>After Luffy started crying and hugging Ace Benn came over, slipping him off Ace and hugging him instead. "You are gonna be one clingy and protective captain Luf." Ace smiled slightly and Marco was just watching quietly. Ace turned to him. "Sorry, I should probably explain. It's just a...touchy...subject." Marco nodded, listening intently. Ace looked over at Luffy and spoke quieter. "Well, we actually had a third brother. He was killed by a Celestial Dragon shooting his ship." Marco was quiet and gently took Ace's hand which made him smile some before continuing. "Luffy's always been clingy since he didn't really have anyone so whenever I disappear he worries something bad happened." Marco looked over at Luffy who was slowly not crying anymore. "He's gotten better about it over time since I always show up fine again, but I hate worrying him..." Marco gently squeezed his hand. "You're a good big brother." Ace smiled some. "Well, I'm glad that's what you think." Luffy, who had stopped crying, smiled at Marco, having heard him. "I like you. If you weren't on the old man's crew I'd ask you to join mine when I become a pirate!" Benn laughed at Luffy calling Whitebeard old man as Marco seemed confused. "Thank you?" Ace smiled. "He asks everyone to join his crew. So far he only has me." Luffy stuck out his tongue and Marco laughed some.</p><p>Whitebeard, who had overheard Luffy, found him even more interesting. "I can't wait to see what kind of pirates your boys become Shanks." Shanks laughed a little. "Well, they'll be ones with powerful allies. You know I'm not gonna be able to stop myself if someone hurts them." Whitebeard laughed. "I won't be stopping Marco from helping out Ace, god help anyone who pisses him off. He's a terror even when he doesn't get enough sleep." Shanks laughed. "You should see Ace! If he doesn't get enough sleep he just falls asleep doing whatever he was doing!" Whitebeard and Shanks started to share stories with each other about funny things they'd witnessed as Benn and the boys talked about when they'd be allowed to set out on their journey.</p><p>After a while, they finally were off. Marco made sure to give Ace a special transponder snail for them to talk through whenever though. Shanks had finally begrudgingly accepted the fact that they were dating now and Benn approved of Marco. Luffy was very excited to see Marco again which made Marco laugh since he also liked Luffy. It was eventful being back on Shanks' ship as well since the crew wanted to know everything and wouldn't stop asking about Marco when they learned they were dating.</p><p>There were many other times the boys ended up in a mess, usually thanks to Luffy, but Ace wasn't free of blame either. One time, Ace was on a call with Marco when a sea king showed up. It wasn't attacking but it was being rather loud. Ace got pissed at it shot fire at its face, pissing it off. Shanks was the one that had to deal with it as Luffy laughed and Benn grounded Ace, taking away the transponder snail and almost getting burnt as well. Ace had multiple bumps on his head that night.</p><p>Garp called them another day, which ended up with Shanks, Ace, and Luffy being lectured for hours. Luffy fell asleep at one point and Garp told him to wake up, which scared all three. They had no clue how he knew but made sure not to fall asleep while he was calling. Benn was the only one that didn't get lectured during the call, instead, he told Garp all about how the boys had been and other things. He left out Marco and Ace dating, making Ace relieved. Shanks almost mentioned it but was stopped as Luffy had fallen asleep again, getting yelled at by Garp again, who fell asleep as well seconds later.</p><p>Now though, Luffy was turning 17 in less than a few days. Luffy had forgotten however, leading Ace to a brilliant idea. He dragged Benn and Shanks into their room while Luffy was messing with Youzu, the monkey. "Luffy's gonna be 17 in a few days, I say we go back to Foosha so he can tell Makino and Dadan he's going on his journey now." Shanks smiled widely. "That's a great idea!" Benn nodded. "He'd be thrilled. I'll go set the course, you two call them and let them know our plans." Ace gave a small salute. "Alrighty." Shanks chuckled as Ace got up and walked out to go call Dadan and Makino. "He's changed so much over the last 10 years." Benn moved next to Shanks. "He really has. I mean hell, he would pick fights when people looked at him wrong and now he apologizes after he steals something even though he doesn't give it back!" Shanks laughed as Benn lightly shook his head, not upset in any way.</p><p>"It's gonna be weird with them gone." Shanks nodded. "We won't be far if they need help though." Benn smiled some as Shanks laid his head on his shoulder. "That's true. Luffy would get mad if we intervene a ton though, so only when he's in real danger." Shanks huffed. "You don't think I know that?" "Oh I know you do, but I also know you go 'momma bear mode' as Luffy and Ace say." Shanks rolled his eyes. "Says the one that lectures everyone when even something slightly dangerous happens." "You're slightly dangerous is very different from my slightly dangerous Shanks." Shanks laughed and looked at him. "Shall we go set the course?  We aren't too far away from the east blue's calm belt." Benn nodded, standing up and letting Shanks' fall onto their bed. "Hey!' Benn walked towards the door while shrugging slightly. "Whoops." Shanks huffed again. "You don't sound sorry at all." Benn chuckled as he opened the door. "Come on you big baby, we got a course to set, or are you gonna pout in here all day?" Shanks smiled and got up. "I'm coming, I'm coming."</p><p>Ace had been the one making sure Luffy didn't find out about their plan for his birthday, which was a lot harder than he had first thought it would be. Luffy was actually very smart when he needed to be, and the idea of his brother hiding something had lead him to be extra perceptive and the crew kept finding him in the most awkward of places trying to find out what it was. Ace walked into his room only to be landed on by Luffy, who had been clinging onto the roof. "LUFFY!!!" The crew watched as the two boys ran around the ship, praying Ace didn't set it on fire as Luffy ran.</p><p>It was only a few hours away from the ship being at Foosha Village and Ace had dragged Luffy inside, claiming they were gonna pull a prank on the next person that walked in the room, which wasn't entirely a lie. He had told everyone to stay out of the room until everything was finished then send Shanks to get him, he planned on dumping some juice and feather on him as a little extra surprise. The two brothers spent most of the time in there setting up the trap, which was mainly Ace setting it up as Luffy laughed, trying to guess who it would be that it landed on.</p><p>The last person either of them expected to see falling to their 'trap' was Benn. But that was exactly who was now covered in juice and feathers, looking less than amused. Ace looked horrified and Luffy was trying to keep in his laughter. It didn't last long though as he fell over laughing as Ace backed away slowly. Benn sighed, wiping the feathers fro  his face and hair. "I will let this slide once. Only once. Got it." Luffy sat up and nodded, covering his mouth to keep in his laughter as Ace nodded his head aggressively. "Good. Now come here you two." Luffy got up, still laugin some and Ace walked over. Benn hugged the two, getting them covered in juice and feathers as well. This just made Luffy laugh more, especially since Ace started trying to get away but failing thanks to Benn's strong grip. "PA!!! I'M GONNA SMELL LIKE THIS FOR DAYS NOW!!!!" Benn just laughed and let go of the two. "Alright alright, enough jokes, I'll let you two go wash off after you come with me. We have a surprise Luffy." Luffy looked very excited. "Yay!" Benn and Ace smiled as he bounced in place. "Come on, before I decide you both bathe first." That got both the boys out the door."</p><p>Shanks fell down laughing as soon as he saw the three arrive in the bar, which they had decorated for the surprise. Everyone was a little stunned after they had actually registered that all of them had feathers on them in one way or another. Luffy was very excited, looking at everything with wide eyes and an even wider smile. Benn was smiling at Luffy while also deciding whether to hit Shanks or make him sleep on the deck. "Happy birthday Luf, you can start your adventure to be the king of pirates now." Luffy looked at Ace and hugged him tightly. "Thank you!" Ace laughed and hugged him back. "Now lets have some fun before we head off!" Luffy let go of him throwing his arms up into the air. "YEAH!!"</p><p>With that, the group partied and celebrated like there was no tomorrow. Some of the townspeople that knew the crew well and Luffy better than others ended up joining in. Makino was making sure no one got too out of hand. "Luffy, Ace, come here a minute, I have something for you two before you set off." Ace and Luffy walked over to Makino, both curious as to what it was. She pulled a small covered basket out from under the counter. "Go ahead and open it. You two can probably guess who's is who's." Ace let Luffy reach over and open the basket. The first thing both boys saw was a hat. Ace picked it up, looking at it with surprise. Luffy was smiling as Makino spoke. "I thought you may want a hat since your brother always wears one." She didn't mention the other reason but Ace knew. Sabo also always wore a hat. He smiled gently and put the hat on. "Thank you Makino.." She smiled before looking at Luffy. "Hurry up and look at yours!" Luffy did, pulling out a new outfit. "You always get so rough and destroy your clothes so I had these made to be more durable, it took a little while though." Luffy smiled, reaching over and hugging Makino. "Thank you!!" Ace laughed a bit.</p><p>The others pulled them away to celebrate more, spending most of the day singing and partying. The only other time they were pulled to the side was by Benn, who had gotten cleaned up at some point, and Shanks. "Hey kiddos, we got you some stuff too." Benn held out two wrapped packages to each of the boys. Ace looked at the two before he opened his, Luffy watched excitedly, wanting to see what he got. Ace opened it and saw a dagger. "In case you ever need something more than your fire." Ace smled, looking at the knife. "It's awesome." Luffy laughed some before opening his. He smiled seeing that they had given him a transponder snail, knowing it was to call them whenever. He tilted his head at the paper however. Ace recognized it right away however. "Vivre paper." Benn nodded with a small smile. "We made some for all of us so we can know if anyone is in danger at any time." Luffy tilted his head, not understanding. Shanks picked up a piece of paper. "Just keep these pieces of paper with you okay? One will lead to Ace and the other two will lead to Benn and I." Luffy smiled. "Okay!" Benn took a piece of the papers handing one for Luffy, Shanks and himself to Ace. "Now we can all be ready to come help one another." Luffy smiled and put them in his hat for the time being while Ace put them in one of his pouches.</p><p>The party finally ended a little after midday. The boys had gone back to the ship for a bit to clean up and get all their stuff. Luffy had decided they were going to set of in a smaller boat and get a bigger one later, to which no one could change his mind about. Ace agreed mainly because he could propel them forward some and it wouldn't take long for them to go between islands to find anyone Luffy wanted on a crew, or even a better ship. "Luffy, you got everything?" Luffy nodded excitedly as Ace decided to make sure he actually did remember everything. Shanks and Benn were also making sure they had everything while also trying to savor the last few minutes with their boys. "You two better stay safe or you're coming to stay on the ship till you're even older." Luffy just laughed as Ace rolled his eyes. "We'll be fine dad, Luffy has the transponder snail if we get into trouble anyways. And I could also call Marco to come and help." Benn sighed. "That's what I'm worried about, you already made a name for yourself and you aren't a pirate yet!" Ace laughed a bit and rubbed the back of his neck. "So?" Benn facepalmed as Shanks laughed before stopping by a glare from Benn. "He's right though, you went out with that chicken and caused so much mischief you have a title and everything." Luffy laughed. "Fire Fist suits him though!" Benn sighed. "That's not the point Luf, you'll be going out with a bounty already on your crew, though you'll probably get one pretty quickly anyways..." Ace and Shanks both nodded as Luffy laughed. "Just be safe boys." The two looked at each other before hugging their dads. "We will!"</p><p>Finally they were ready, Ace was steering the small boat as Luffy continued to wave to the crowd, laughing as Shanks tried and failed to not cry. They didn't get far out before the sea king that had eaten Shanks' arm came out. "I got this Ace!" Ace nodded and continued to sit as Luffy wound up his fist. Everyone but their dads' and the crew gasped, not sure if they'd be fine before Luffy punched the sea king, sending it crashing back into the sea as both Shanks and Benn watched proudly. Ace smiled and put a peace sign up in the air as they sailed farther away. Luffy turned and waved one last time to those on the shore. "Where to first Luf?" Luffy sat down and looked at Ace, ready to start their adventure.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Oh Boy...The First Addition!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I accidentally deleted everything while I had a good chunk done and I've never done that before so now I'm just disappointed in myself qwq (the reason I'm saying this is because the start will be shorter now cuz I don't wanna rewrite the like 3 paragraphs I had just as an opening, sorry guys)</p><p>Anyway, this will closely follow the actual storyline, with some changes thanks to Ace being on the crew, some things won't change however.</p><p>Luffy showing up on a ship in a barrel is one of those things.</p><p>Off-topic entirely, but I am way too good at giving relationship advice while never being able to be in a good relationship myself qwq</p><p>Okay, enough bout me, for now at least, I tend to overshare lol, but back to the story, enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A passenger ship that had been sailing peacefully mere seconds ago was now frantically preparing to be boarded by pirates. A barrel that had only just been pulled out of the sea had been left to accidentally roll into the kitchen as both the staff and passengers panicked at the cannonballs hitting the water near them and their mast. Most people were obviously distraught but one girl smiled at the opportunity, slipping out of the main hall with the confusion to change her dress to something more fitting.</p><p>On the pirate ship, a pink-haired boy was trying to sneak away from the deck and go unnoticed. "KOBY!!!!" Koby turned around, looking up at his 'captain'. "Y-yes Alvida?" "Who's the prettiest pirate on all the seas?" "Y-you Alvida!" Alvida smiled and turned to the ship they had just grappled onto. "Correct! Now let's go get some gold boys!" As the pirates boarded the other ship Koby hesitated before being kicked onto the other ship by Alvida herself. He had barely sat up when he had to duck down again to avoid being hit by Alvida.</p><p>After Alvida had gotten up and headed to the main room, Koby snuck away to find a quiet room to hide away while 'looking' for treasure for Alvida. He found himself in the kitchen and saw a big barrel, which he assumed had alcohol in it. He sighed and started to roll it towards the door when three more pirates came in. "Hiding away Koby?" "N-no..." The three mainly ignored what he was saying as they decided to open the barrel for some booze. Koby fell onto his knees, not wanting to go against them but terrified of the thought of Alvida finding out. As the pirate swung toward the lid of the barrel Luffy popped out hitting him in the jaw and knocking him unconscious instantly.</p><p>"Wh-what?! Who are you?!" Luffy laughed. "I'm Luffy!" The two drew their swords and lunged at him. Koby covered his eyes, expecting to hear a scream of pain but only hearing the sound of swords breaking. "Huh?" He looked over to see Luffy standing tall and the other two cowering in fear before grabbing their crewmate and running for it. Luffy turned to look at Koby and Koby go up quickly. "Y-you need to hide! If they come back with their friend's y-you'll be killed!" Luffy was going to object but Koby dragged him away, ending up with the two in the pantry, which Luffy immediately started raiding the food of.</p><p>"Th-that was amazing! I'm Koby, you're Luffy, right?" Luffy nodded as he shoveled apples into his mouth. "Is this a pirate ship?" Koby shook his head and walked over, crouching down next to him. "No, it's a passenger ship Alvida is raiding." "Oh, well, do you know if there are boats onboard?" Koby was a little confused. "P-probably, why?" "I got separated from my boat thanks to a whirlpool so I need a new one. I wonder if Ace is still with the ship..." Koby was shocked, realizing Luffy was definitely not normal. "Y-you're so cool..." Luffy turned to look at him. "Are you a pirate?" Koby looked down before telling Luffy of his situation, to which Luffy laughed at. "Boy, you're dumb!" Koby sighed in defeat. "And you're blunt..." Luffy turned back to the food. "Why don't you just run away?" Koby shook his head frantically at that. "No, no, no! The idea of Alvida finding me.." Koby shivered and Luffy laughed. "You're also a wimp, man I hate you!" Koby sweatdropped.</p><p>"What were you doing out at see anyways Luffy?" Luffy looked at him. "I'm the man who will become King of the Pirates!" Koby was shocked and couldn't say a word at first. "Y-you're a pirate?" Luffy nodded. "What about you're crew?" "I only have Ace, I'm looking for one now." He laughed before waving a hand in front of Koby's face. Koby frantically scrambled backward. "No way, no way, no way! There's no way you can make it!" Luffy laughed before hitting him on the head. "Why did you hit me...?" "Just because." Koby sat up, holding his head some. Luffy looked at him for a minute before shifting his hat some. "It's not about whether I can or not." Koby looked up at him confused. "I decided to be King of the Pirates, so if I die fighting for that it's fine by me." Koby looked at him in a newer light after that sentence. "I-I, I'm gonna break out of here and become a Navy-marine! Then I'll catch pirates, even Alvida!"</p><p>His excitement was short-lived as the roof came crashing in along with Alvida. "Koby!" Koby cowered in fear as Luffy watched quietly. Alvida starred Koby down as Luffy narrowly avoided getting stabbed through a wall on accident. Alvida looked over at Luffy. "You don't seem to be pirate hunter Zoro." Luffy's eyes lit up slightly at the name "Zoro?" She ignored Luffy and turned her attention back to Koby. "Koby! Who is the most beautiful pirate on all the seas?" Koby was shaking as he started to answer. "Wh-why th-that would-" He was interrupted by Luffy however. "Who's this big chunky lady?" Everyone was wide-eyed as Alvida grew angry. She swung down her club which Luffy easily avoided, hopping over to Koby. "Let's go."</p><p>The two were flying out of the hole Alvida had created seconds later. Koby was bewildered as he watched Luffy get attacked by the other pirates on the deck. Luffy easily dodged their attacks, causing most of them to stumble as he did. One guy tried to attack from behind when Luffy grabbed him and threw him. "It's not fair to attack from behind!" The pirate crashed into the others, knocking them all down with ease. He turned around to see an angry group of them before he ran. "It's not fair to attack all at once!!" He grabbed onto the mast, letting his arm stretch, stopping most of the pirates in their track as they saw him stretch. He turned with a smiled before letting himself slingshot backward into the crowd as they tried to run away.</p><p>Alvida had climbed back onto the deck in time to see him stretch. "Wh-what was that Luffy?!" Luffy laughed and looked at Koby. "I'm a rubber person!" "A-a rubber person?" Luffy nodded as Alvida looked at him. "Who are you?" Luffy looked up at her. "I'm Luffy, the man who will be King of the Pirates!" Alvida burst out laughing. "So you're a pirate too. That makes us enemies." "L-Luffy, we should run a-away...Alvida is-" Luffy looked at him and Koby remembered what he had said earlier. Luffy smiled slightly as he saw Koby clench his fists. "I'm what Koby?" Koby looked at her, clenching his fists even tighter. "The most ugly, cragged old hag ever!!" Luffy burst out laughing and Alvida looked ready to kill him. "What?!" Koby continued to stare at her despite shaking. "I'm gonna become a marine and capture pirates like you! I'm gonna do what I want to do!"</p><p>Alvida raised her club and Koby starred in horror but content with his fate. Luffy moved him backward some with a smile. "Well said!" As the club hit his head Luffy smiled even more before launching it upwards. Alvida watched in horror as Luffy stretched his arm far backward. Koby looked at him in awe as he let his fist come flying back, striking Alvida in the stomach and sending her flying into the distance. Koby and Alvida's crew watched as he sent her flying, mouths hanging open. Luffy turned to them. "Hey." They all jumped and looked at him. "Y-yes." "Give me a ship and let Koby leave. He's gonna become a marine." The crew nodded and scrambled away to get him a boat.</p><p>Meanwhile, somewhere a bit farther away was Ace in what was left of their original boat. He sighed as he looked at the Vivre card pointing him towards his brother. "How did you already get in this much trouble...it's only been 2 days!" Ace put the paper away and aimed his hand behind him, using his fire to propel the small boat along, moving slower than he wanted since going too fast would break it to pieces. "You better not be too far or I'm calling pa.." He grumbled as he headed in the direction the paper showed.</p><p>Back on the ship, cannonballs landed in the water around them, shaking everything. Luffy looked over, seeing three Navy ships. "Hey look! The Navy's here, you can go join em! As for me, I gotta get out of here, I'm a pirate!" Koby watched as Luffy started to run toward the small boat on the side before following after. "I-I can't just ask them to let me be a marine! They'll capture me on the spot!" Luffy laughed. "Get on then!" Koby looked back before hopping on the small boat as well. Luffy pulled a rope and the ship went plummeting into the water, creating a fairly large splash, shaking another small boat in the water. As the ship was bouncing on the waves Luffy looked into the other boat, seeing a girl with orange hair and lots of bags of what he guessed was money.</p><p>Luffy turned to Koby with a smile as he opened the sail and their boat took off. After they had gotten out of sight of the ship Koby relaxed a little. "We finally got away.." Luffy smiled up at the sky. "That was fun!" Koby looked at him, smiling slightly before thinking. "Um, Luffy? If you're heading for the One Piece then that means you're going to the Grand Line." Luffy nodded. "You know that place is called a pirates graveyard right?" Luffy looked ahead. "Yeah! Which is why I need a strong crew! What about that pirate hunter guy!" Koby sweatdropped. "You mean Zoro?" Luffy smiled wider. 'I did hear that chunky lady right.' "I heard he's being held prisoner at a navy base." "Why? Is he weak?" Koby stood up, shaking his head. "No, no, he's a literal demon! Wait, why are you asking?" Luffy laughed. "He's going to join my crew!" "You're being unrealistic again Luffy..." Luffy only laughed as they sailed to the island where Zoro was being held, both with two very different ideas of how this would go down.</p><p>The two were on the boat for only a few hours before they arrived on the island. Luffy immediately grabbed some food from a stand, somehow going unnoticed. "Luffy, you can't seriously want him to join your crew? It's crazy!" Luffy only laughed, making Koby sigh. "You want to be a marine right? You could ask to join." Koby blinked before responding. "Y-yeah, I do, but not yet...It's too soon. I heard this base is controlled by Captain Morgan-" The people nearby jumped away from the two after hearing the name, making Luffy laugh and Koby confused.</p><p>"Why would they be afraid of Captain Morgan? Zoro is understandable, but a Navy Captain?" Luffy laughed again. "The people here are funny." Luffy ran ahead and pointed up at the wall in front of the base. "We're here!" He walked right up to the wall. "I don't think he'll be out in the yard, he's probably locked up deep in the-" He was interrupted by being pulled up to peer over the wall by Luffy. "And he's right there..." Luffy laughed a little at seeing Zoro. He was about to hop down and go over when he saw a little girl with a wrapped package. He stayed quiet and watched as the girl held a finger over her mouth before hopping down. Koby was about to speak but Luffy covered his mouth as he watched.</p><p>The little girl walked over. "What?" The girl smiled up at him. "I brought you some riceballs!" Zoro looked at her for a second. "Do you wanna get killed? Scram." Luffy looked away from the two, his eyes drifting towards the gate to the yard, seeing a man walk towards it followed by some marines. Koby was watching the girl insist Zoro eat the riceballs as Luffy slowly frowned. The gate opened and the man Luffy was watching spoke. "It's mean to be a bully. You seem surprisingly well Roranora Zoro." Luffy huffed. "There's another weird guy." Koby smiled. "He's with the Navy, now that little girl will be safe."</p><p>Luffy watched the man, who had turned to the girl and taken one of the rice balls, taking a bite. "Bleh! These are sweet! They're supposed to be salty!" The girl looked up at him. "B-but I thought they would be better sweet..." The guy threw the riceballs at the ground, knocking the other out of the girl's hand before stepping on it. Zoro glared at the guy but was ignored as he smiled at the girl, who had started to cry. "You know, anyone that helps a criminal can be sentenced to death." The girl looked up at him scared as the other marines looked at the blond with surprise. "Hehehe, even brats like you know how scary my dad is. How about you scram. Someone throw this kid out." The others hesitated and one spoke out hesitantly. "B-but she's just a kid." He was turned to quickly. "I said throw her over the wall. Do you wanna face the consequences?!" The marine grew quiet and walked over to the girl, picking her up gently. "Curl up into a ball.." The girl looked at him before curling up and being thrown over the wall.</p><p>Luffy sprung from the wall and caught the girl, protecting her from the impact. Koby quickly got down from the wall and ran over. "Luffy! Are you alright?" Luffy sat up, looking at the girl. "I'm fine." Koby looked at the girl as she sat up and looked at Luffy. "Thank you.." Luffy just smiled and stood up, picking up his hat that had fallen off. "Are you alright little girl? I can't believe how horrible that guy is.." Luffy looked back towards the wall, latching on and pulling himself back over. When he looked in he saw that everyone but Zoro was already gone. He pulled himself over the wall and landed on the ground, getting Zoro's attention. At first, Zoro glared at Luffy before he recognized the straw hat on his back.</p><p>Zoro sweatdropped, realizing who was in front of him yet again. "Luffy..." Luffy laughed and walked closer. "Are you weak? You're all tied up out here." Zoro's eye twitched. "Shut it! I'm not weak." Luffy smiled. "I would have starved to death in three days." Zoro shook his head slightly. "That's cause I have more will than you. I will survive through this." Luffy's smile grew, opening his mouth again but getting interrupted. "No, I will not join your crew!" Luffy laughed loudly as Zoro sighed. "Luffy, could you pick that up for me?" Luffy crouched down. "Why? Are you that hungry?" Zoro rolled his eyes. "Just do it." Luffy laughed as he picked up what was left of the riceballs and bringing it over to Zoro.</p><p>"I'll come back later to make you join Zoro!" "Don't!" Luffy laughed and jumped over the wall, landing next to Koby and the girl. "Y-you two can come back to mommy's work." With that, the three made their way to the little girl's, who's name was Rika, mother's bar. "Is Zoro as bad as they say?" Rika looked up quickly as they sat on the steps of the building. "No way! He got crucified in place of us..." Koby tilted his head as Luffy leaned closer. "Huh?" Rika looked down as she explained how she had tried to shoo away Helmeppo's pet and got attacked but Zoro saved her. Luffy laughed at the end of the story. "That's just like him!" Koby blinked before both yelled at the same time. "You know him?!" Luffy laughed even more. "Yep! I used to ask him to join my crew all the time but he kept saying no." Koby sweatdropped. "Of course you did..." Rika looked up at him amazed. "You're a pirate?"</p><p>After Luffy told them a little about Zoro in the past Rika told them more about how Helmeppo was unfair and hit and kicked him throughout the day after making a deal to stay there for a month. After Rika had finished her story she invited them inside for some food, which Luffy readily agreed to. While they were eating however Helmeppo came in, demanding free food. "Hahaha! You should all see the look on Zoro's face when he realizes he's going to be executed! And he'll have no strength to fight back." Koby and Rika gasped at Helmeppo's words while Luffy looked down, clenching his fist. "You see, I've gotten bored so I decided to execute him tomorrow!" Luffy stood up, walking over to him. Helmeppo looked over at him. "Huh? Wha-" He was cut off by Luffy punching him, sending him flying across the bar.</p><p>Koby quickly ran over and grabbed Luffy's arms, holding him back. "Luffy please stop!" Luffy glared at Helmeppo. "This guy is scum!" Helmeppo held his cheek while holding back tears. "Who the hell do you think you are!? I'm gonna tell my dad and you'll be executed!!!" "Fight me yourself!" "Luffy, please calm down! Do you want to get on the Navy's bad side?!" Luffy stopped struggling as much. "Koby, I made up my mind. Zoro is joining my crew today." Helpemmo got up with the help of some of the marines before running away to go tell his dad.</p><p>Zoro was thinking about his past. He had two promises to upkeep, he refused to fall here. He looked up at the sound of footsteps to see Luffy. "What do you want Luffy?" Luffy stared at him. "Join my crew." Zoro gaped at him. "I've told you no a million times! Why would I join-" "That bratty son isn't gonna keep his promise. He plans to execute you tomorrow." Zoro stared at him in stunned silence. "Fine. If you get me my swords, I'll join your crew." Luffy smiled widely. "Alright!" Zoro sighed as Luffy ran away from the base. "The base is the other way Luffy!" Luffy paused and turned around before launching himself across the field to the base. Zoro huffed. "I will never get used to that..."</p><p>Luffy stared up at the base. "Now where would they keep a sword?" He saw a slight movement at the top of the base. "Guess I'll start there!" He pulled his arm back before launching it to the top of the building before pulling the rest of himself up to his hand. As he flung upwards he realized he had overshot. "Uh oh!" As he was about to fly over the base entirely he latched onto a large statue, stopping himself but breaking it in the process. Luffy landed on the roof as most of the marines looked at him or Captain Morgan in fear. Helpemmo gasped and pointed frantically at Luffy. "That's him, dad! That's the one that hit me!" Morgan looked over at his son in distaste before looking at Luffy in anger.</p><p>Luffy looked at Helpemmo and smiled. "The stupid son!" Helpemmo blinked but was suddenly being dragged through the Navy base. "Where is Zoro's sword?" "I-in my room!" "Alright!" Luffy ran even faster, carelessly dragging Helpemmo behind him, causing him to get a lot of bumps and scratches. Whenever a marine aimed at him he would use Helmeppo as a shield and keep going. "Where is your room?" Helmeppo shakily points to a room. "W-we just passed it..." Luffy stopped and turned around, heading into the room. "You should have told me!"</p><p>As he entered the room he saw three swords in the corner. "Hmm, which one was Zoro's again? Oh well, I'll just take them all." He let go of Helmeppo and grabbed the swords, strapping them onto his back right before some marines burst into the room. Luffy laughed slightly as he turned and ran towards the window, jumping through it and letting himself fall towards the open area. As he fell he saw Koby trying to untie Zoro and smiled until he saw the Navy only a few feet away.</p><p>Koby frantically tried to untie Zoro. "Stop it! You'll be killed for trying to help me!" Koby continued to untie him. "I can't stand to watch the marines like this, I want to be honorable." Zoro looked at him. "Helmeppo never planned to keep your agreement and Luffy got mad and punched him so now he's in danger as well." Zoro's eyes widened. "He did?" Koby nodded. The gate opened and Koby jumped at the noise as Captain Morgan and a bunch of marines walked through. "Quite an interesting stunt you've pulled there. Were you two and that straw hat kid planning a coup or something? Either way, you will die here." He raised his axe and the men behind him raised their guns, aiming at the two.</p><p>Luffy landed mere seconds before they started to fire, blocking the other two and catching the bullets. Zoro and Koby watched terrified for a minute before the bullets bounced back at their shooters, causing mayhem and angering Morgan. "That doesn't work!" Luffy laughed. Zoro sighed. "What the hell Luffy..." Luffy turned to him. "I told you, I'm Monkey D. Luffy, and I will become King of the Pirates!" Zoro shook his head with a small smile.</p><p>"Oh, which sword is yours again?" Luffy held out the swords and Zoro smiled. "All of them." Luffy smiled. "So you'll join my crew then!" Luffy was celebrating. "Get me down first!" Luffy paused. "Oh yeah." He tried to untie the rope, failing pretty miserably before Morgan stepped forward. "Anyone who opposes me gets executed!!" Zoro and Koby looked at him as he approached. "Just give me my swords!!" Luffy tilted his head. "Huh? Okay." Luffy put a sword in Zoro's mouth and he quickly cut himself out as the marines charged towards them with swords. Zoro blocked all the swords with ease once he had gotten out and grabbed his other two swords. Morgan grew angrier and angrier. "Roranora Zoro." Zoro looked at Luffy as he held back the swords. "Luffy. If you get in my way I won't hesitate to cut you down." Luffy laughed. "I know!" "The King of Pirates would need no less anyway. Either way, I will spread my name throughout the world. Zoro smirked and pushed back the men, sending most of their swords flying.</p><p>The marines looked between their captain and the three. "They're too strong! We can't beat them!" Morgan stepped forward some. "Anyone who just spouted weakness...shoot yourself in the head." Koby clenched his fist in anger as Luffy ran toward Morgan. "Luffy! Crush this Navy!" Luffy ran past the marines and pulled his fist back, punching but being blocked by Morgan's axe. "I'm Axe-Hand Morgan! Low-rank, no name criminals like you have no right to defy me!!" "I'm Luffy, nice to meet you." Morgan's eye twitched and he swung at Luffy, missing twice before being hit directly in the face, causing him to stumble backward.</p><p>Luffy ran forward, avoiding another attack while using his momentum to kick Morgan in the face. The marines watched as Luffy started to punch him. "St-stop or he dies!" Luffy paused, turning to see Helmeppo holding a gun to Koby's head. Luffy smiled and Koby's eyes widened. "Don't listen to him Luffy! I'm prepared to die!" Luffy laughed. "I know." He stood up, winding up his fist. "He really is ready to die you know?" Luffy walked towards Helmeppo. "D-don't! Dad! Kill him quickly!" Helmeppo was shaking as Luffy smiled at him, launching his punch. Morgan raised his axe as he did, slashing down but being stopped by Zoro and falling along with his son.</p><p>Luffy turned to look back at Zoro. "Zoro." Zoro put his sword in its sheath. "My pleasure, captain." Luffy smiled widely before the two turned to look at the rest of the marines. "Captain Morgan's been defeated.." They pause before cheering, throwing weapons, and hat's up into the air and cheering loudly. Luffy laughed while Zoro let himself fall onto the floor, immediately falling asleep. Koby sighed in relief and smiled as well. "Why don't we take Zoro to Rika and her mother?" Luffy nodded, picking up the sleeping Zoro with ease.</p><p>Inside the base a certain orange-haired girl was in Morgan's room, going through his stuff until she stumbled upon what she had been looking for. She smiled and moved the barrels away from the dislodged panel on the wall. As she moved the panel she saw the fault was unlocked. Opening it she saw a map and pulled it out only to open it and see what she had come for had been stolen. She glared and turned back to the door, planning her next move.</p><p>Luffy and Zoro ate for free since Rika's mother, and most citizens, were grateful they had defeated Captain Morgan, freeing their island. "So Luffy, who've you gotten to join your crew?" Luffy smiled. Just Ace!" Zoro sighed expectantly. "Somehow I knew that'd be your answer. Where is he anyway? And what ship are you even traveling with?" Luffy pointed outside to the tiny boat and Zoro sighed. "As for Ace, he got lost during a storm and I ended up on a ship before I came here." "Oh I got lost did I?" Luffy laughed some before getting a smack to the head. "You're the one that jumped onto the barrel while I was getting us out of that mess!" Zoro waved at Ace. "Yo." Ace waved back. "I see he finally convinced you to join?" Zoro nodded with a sigh. Luffy just laughed. "Now I have two crewmates!" Ace pulled a chair over and sat down.</p><p>Koby, who had been watching the three interact spoke up. "Um, hello.." Ace looked at the boy. "Oh, hello! I'm Ace, Luffy's older brother, and crewmate!" Koby blinked. "Ace, as in Fire-Fist Ace?" Ace smiled. "Yep!" Koby sighed. "Why am I not surprised..." As they ate and caught up with one another a marine walked into the bar. "Is it true you guys are pirates?" Luffy looked over and smiled while Ace continued to eat and Zoro watched them quietly. "Yeah. We gained another member just now." The marine pulled his hat down over his eyes. "While we are grateful you saved us from that tyrant, now that I know you are a pirate I must demand you leave." Some of the people in the bar and outside the window started to complain about their demand but the marine ignored them. "Out of obligation, we will refrain from telling headquarters." Luffy looked at him before smiling and standing up. "Well, we should get going. Thank you for the food Lady!" Rika frowned. "You're leaving?" Luffy nodded. "Yep!" Zoro sighed and got up as well as Ace, who was still eating as he got up though."</p><p>As the three walked to the door Koby stayed still which caught the attention of the marine. "Hey. Aren't you part of their crew?" Koby clenched his fists, not knowing how to respond. "Well, isn't he?" Luffy smiled and turned around. "I know what he's been doing up till now! There was this big fat pirate lady and-" He was interrupted by a punch to the face but his smile only grew wider. "You bastard!" He punched Koby back, knocking him down before hitting him a few more times. Zoro and Ace both shook their head slightly with smiles of their own. "Stop it! It's obvious you two aren't crewmates. Get out of our town!" Luffy stood up and walked back over to his other two friends, leaving the restaurant. Koby stared at the ceiling. He wasn't stupid, he knew Luffy had done it on purpose. Sitting up quickly Koby looked at the Marine. "Let me join the Navy!" The marine looked at him as another voiced his doubt only to be interrupted by Koby again. "I'm a man who will become a Navy officer!" The marine looked at him and smiled slightly. "You better be prepared." Koby smiled brightly at the words, turning around. "Yes sir!"</p><p>Luffy, Ace, and Zoro were at the small boat Luffy had taken, packing up supplies. "How did you end up fighting a Captain? You're already gonna get a bounty..." Ace sighed. Zoro laughed a little as he drank some alcohol he had snuck. "Don't you laugh Zoro, I will call Mihawk, don't test me." Zoro looked away and Luffy laughed. "Now. How did you end up fighting him you two?" The two pointed at the other. "It was his fault." Ace sighed, putting the last of the supplies on the small ship. "Nevermind."</p><p>The three untied their boat and were letting themselves be pulled by the wind when they saw Koby on the dock. "Thank you, Luffy!" Koby was surprised when he heard the Lieutenant from behind him. "All hands, salute!" Luffy smiled and stood up, waving to them all. "Bye-bye!" "That's a good friend you've got there." Koby looked up at the marine before smiling. "Yes, sir!" "Our salute just now is violation of naval law! As punishment, we will go without food for three days!" His declaration was met by varying responses, but all the men were smiling still as they watched the boat sail beyond view.</p><p>Ace watched as Luffy moved around excitedly at their new member. "Zoro joined the crew!" Zoro sighed. "This is gonna be quite the adventure isn't it?" Ace laughed. "You say that but even in the past you would help him if he was in trouble when we visited." Zoro huffed. "Why wouldn't I? Shanks and Benn are like uncles to me so you two are like my cousins." Ace smiled. "Well, can't say I don't agree. Mihawk, as cold as he seems, is just a big softy." Zoro smirked. "He'd kill you if he heard you say that." Ace laughed. "I know." Luffy, finally done celebrating Zoro joining, plopped on top of Ace. "We talking about Mi?" Zoro laughed. "I will never get over how he says he hates that nickname yets still lets you use it." Luffy laughed. "I'd use it even if he said no." The three laughed, finally catching up with what Zoro had done after he left to be a bounty hunter. Luffy did fall asleep partway through though, leaving Ace and Zoro just talking.</p><p>"So what happened with you and Luffy?" Ace thought for a second. "Well, to put it simply, I got a devil fruit power and a boyfriend." Zoro blinked. "You know what, pretend I didn't ask." Ace laughed. "I'm telling you anyway." Zoro sighed but listened as Ace started to talk about his boyfriend, who Zoro had decided to call birdbrain until he met him in person. "Do you have any idea where Luffy wants to go next?" Ace shook his head. "He honestly just lets the sea decide. Which is why we need to find a navigator, and hopefully soon. I'm the best with directions out of the three of us and that is definitely not saying much."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I feel like this chapter is the most eh one I've written so far but that may just be because I messed it up at first lol.</p><p>Hopefully y'all like it still ^^</p><p>Also, don't mind me just yeeting out new chapters, I literally only have this to do because I'm avoiding talking to my family xD</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. A Clown!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I named this chapter a clown because I keep remembering this one audio I heard and it lives rent-free in my head. I'll try to find a link for the audio if I can find one -w-</p><p>Also, me oversharing again if yall interested in reading it (skip this lil bit if you don't lol). Okay, so, ya boi here has been questioning their own gender and shiz cuz I've never had the chance to till recently and I realized I might be happier with a different name as I believe I am nonbinary, I'm not too sure yet, but I'm figuring it out! Anyway, I've always hated my name, never knew why till now lol, and since One Piece has gotten me through a lot of hard parts in my life so far and will almost definitely continue to, I decided to ask a few close friends to refer to me as Luffy (since he's one of my favs and I closely relate to him in some ways) to see if it fit me better. Safe to say when one of them referred to me as Luffy I almost cried out of pure joy ovo</p><p>Oh, and if any of you are worried about what to refer to me as Rosey or Luffy work as Rosey has been my online alias and you know bout Luffy. As for pronouns, I'm actually not too sure mine but I don't really mind people using any of them as long as it isn't meant in a bad way. I do think I've recently leaned more towards he/they. Idk, I'm figuring it out lol</p><p>Alright, oversharing time over, thanks for listening uwu, love you all &lt;3</p><p>Oh, a fun fact on how I write these chapters! I pull up a small summary of the current arc the chapter is including (as well as bios of characters) and if I don't have an idea or if there is a blank part in between two spots I'll go find the episode that the story is generally parallel with and watch the part that's blank in the story for ideas hehe</p><p>Berry/berries is what I will refer to the money as by the way! It's the one I'm used to but I'm aware that it is called beli/belly sometimes but it sounds weird to me haha.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been a day since they had left Koby and the marines. Luffy and Zoro mainly talked as Ace used his power as a propeller, not wanting to spend too much time in their small boat. "Ace!! We should see what Marco is doing!" "I am not calling Marco because you're bored Luffy!" Luffy pouted. "Aww." He sat back down and leaned back, seeing a bird almost instantly. "Ace, Zoro! I'm gonna catch that bird so we can eat it!" Zoro shrugged and Ace smiled, leaning back some. Luffy stood up and stretched his arm up to the bird, grabbing on. As he pulled himself up all three boys realized the bird was a lot bigger than they had first assumed. The bird got angry and flapped its wings at Luffy before grabbing him in its beak and continuing to fly. Zoro and Ace both stood up quickly. "Luffy!" Ace crouched down and got ready to use his fire to quicken the boat. "Zoro hold on." Zoro quickly grabbed onto the boat, barely grabbing it before they were hurrying after Luffy.</p><p>Luffy had given up on struggling against the bird and just accepted it, trying to see where he was going instead. He saw an island and stretched his arm out before letting it come flying back, hitting the bird in the eye and causing it to drop him. While Luffy fell to the ground he noticed a tent in the town. He also saw it was pretty empty looking. It didn't take long for him to crash into the ground, getting up fairly quickly and looking around. He had just so happened to get out of the bird's mouth seconds before it had been hit with something. The bird crashed down onto the ground behind him and he turned to look at it. "What else hit you?"</p><p>A girl and three pirates stared at the boy who had just fallen from the sky in slight shock. The girl smirked, coming up with a plan. "Hey, boss? Can you handle these pirates? Thanks!" With that, the girl ran as Luffy tried to figure out what was happening. The three pirates walked over to Luffy, getting ready to attack him. "So you're that girl's boss?" Luffy looked up at him. "Huh? I don't even know he-" He was interrupted by getting hit in the face. Luffy looked up at him and the guy flinched. He turned and walked over to his hat, which had been knocked off his head, before walking back to the guy who was looking down at him. "Wh-" The pirate barely started to speak when he was punched in the gut and sent flying into a nearby building. "Don't. Touch my hat." The other two looked at Luffy before running away to tell their captain, leaving their crewmate in the rubble.</p><p>Luffy huffed before looking around, his anger from a few seconds ago completely gone. "What just happened?" The girl, who had been watching from a roof, smiling down at Luffy. "You're really strong!" Luffy looked up at her. "Hey you're that...who?" The girl hopped from the roof onto the balcony of the building. "I'm a thief that steals from pirates! My name is Nami! Hey, do you wanna team up?!" Luffy stared at her before starting to walk away. "No, I don't wanna team up with you." "Hold on." Nami sighed, hopping down from the balcony. "I said wait!" Luffy's stomach growled as she ran up to him. "I just remembered...I'm starving.." Luffy pouted, falling onto his knees. Nami smiled. "How about I treat you to some food?" Luffy hopped up. "Really?!" She nodded and He laughed happily.</p><p>Luffy and Nami were in one of the abandoned houses of the citizens, eating some food Nami had found. "Do you live here?" Nami shook her head. "I don't live in this town. All the citizens left because they feared Buggy." Luffy, while shoving food in his mouth, tilted his head. "So you're breaking an entering?" Nami stood up. "I'm a thief that steals from pirates, don't compare me to someone who breaks and enters." "But a thief is a thief, right?" She turned away. "I will earn 100 million berries." "What are you gonna do with all that money?" "Secret." Nami looked at the map in her hand. "If you have a map of the Grand Line then 100 million berries isn't a dream." Luffy paused in his eating, looking at Nami. "Map? Are you a navigator?" Nami turned to look at him, nodding. "Better than any other, why?" Luffy stood up. "You should join us as our navigator!" Nami was surprised. "Really?" "Yeah, a bunch of pirates." Her face fell quickly. "No." She crossed her arms. "So you're a pirate?" Luffy took his hat off, looking at it. "Yeah, I made a promise to become a great pirate to the person that gave me this hat." Nami looked at him for a second, coming up with a plan in her head. "I hate pirates more than anything else."</p><p>After Luffy tried a few times to convince her, she sighed. "I won't join your crew, but, we can team up for now. I have a plan." Luffy smiled. "Alright!" The last thing Luffy expected the plan to be was him being tied up and put in a cage. "Heyyyy, let me ouuttt...I'll kick your ass!" Buggy, who had been talking to Nami as the crew celebrated her 'joining', looked at him. "I have an idea! Nami! To prove your loyalty." A few pirates had moved a cannon in front of Luffy as he talked. "Shoot your old captain with one of my Buggy Balls!" Nami froze in place, staring at Buggy before turning to Luffy. "Come on, all you have to do is light it." Nami was handed a matchbox. She walked towards the cannon, still staring at Luffy as he stared back at her unfazed. +</p><p>"Come on Nami! Don't be a wet blanket!" Nami jumped, gripping the matchbox tighter. "Your hands are shaking." Nami looked at Luffy as he smiled at her. "That's what happens when you go up against pirates without determination." "Determination? Determination to kill with no remorse?! Is that what it means to be a pirate?" "No." Nami looked at him in surprise. "Determination to put your life on the line." One of the pirates walked over, grabbing the matches. "Like this!"  he lit the match and moved it close to the cannon and Nami reacted without thinking, hitting him on the head and knocking him out. "Uh oh.."</p><p>"Nami!!! What's the meaning of this?!" Nami turned to face Buggy and the others, ready to defend herself. "You just save me." Nami huffed. "I don't want to become a barbaric pirate like that! A pirate like that took someone dear from me!" Luffy looked at her, speaking quietly. "Oh, so that's why.." He saw the cannon had been lit out of the corner of his eye as he spoke and started to struggle. "It lit up!" Nami looked back at it in slight fear. "Flashily kill her!" A few pirates lunged forward and Nami blocked one before avoiding the others and running to the cannon, grabbing the rope to put out the fire. "Aah!" Luffy watched in shock. "You're hands!" As the rope finally went out the pirates were attacking again. "Watch out!" Nami looked behind her but saw a figure quickly block the swords.</p><p>"Ganging up on a girl isn't very nice." A blast of fire sent the pirates to the ground as they tried to put themselves out. "I had that Ace." Ace, who was walking over to Luffy shrugged. "You snooze you lose." Luffy smiled widely. "Zoro! Ace!" Zoro shook his head, turning to look at his captain. "How did you end up here anyway Luffy? First, you're carried off by a bird and then you end up in a cage." Luffy laughed a little as Ace was looking for a way to open the cage. "I was just having some fun." Nami looked at the two. 'They must be his crewmates..' "Your definition of fun would give dad and pa a heart attack Luf." Luffy just laughed more.</p><p>Buggy was pissed off. "So you're Zoro? Have you come for my head?" Zoro looked back at Buggy. "Not interested. I quit being a pirate-hunter." Buggy twirled some daggers in his hand. "oh, but I'm interested. If I kill you I'll get more famous." Ace and Luffy had the same thought as he said that. 'You'd be dead if you even hurt him...' Zoro turned toward Buggy, unsheathing his swords with a sigh. The two watched each other for a long time before they both lunged forward. Buggy was the one to fall, being chopped up into pieces. Zoro looked back uncertain for a second as he put his swords away. 'There was no resistance...' The Buggy Pirates started to laugh and all four of them looked over confused. "Why are you laughing?!" They didn't respond as The pieces of Buggy picked themselves up, reassembling. Zoro realized a little too late as he felt a stab through his side. "ZORO!"</p><p>Zoro fell onto one of his knees, looking up angrily at Buggy who was too busy gloating to realize that Nami, who had gotten over the shock of Buggy being alive, was trying to flip the cannon towards them. Buggy turned and saw her trying to flip it, laughing at her. "How pathetic!" Ace, who had stopped trying to open Luffy's cage ran over, helping flip the cannon at Buggy and his crew. Zoro had gotten up and gone over to Luffy's cage, picking it up with a bit of difficulty as Buggy had started to panic at it being aimed at them. Nami backed away, planning to light it with a match when Ace finger gunned a small flame, lighting it before hurrying over to Luffy and Zoro. Nami followed after them quickly as they escaped into the town.</p><p>Once in the town, Zoro sat down against a nearby wall. "Zoro, are you alright?" Zoro opened an eye and looked at Ace before crossing his arms, keeping a hand on his swords however. "Of course I am, a small wound like this won't stop me. I just need some sleep." Luffy laughed a little, his worry was gone after Ace had asked him. "Who was that girl from earlier anyway Luf?" Luffy looked over at him. "She's gonna be our navigator!" "Can you get me out now?" Ace turned to face him. "If you want to be roast pig then sure, otherwise we need the key." "You mean this?" The three turned to see Nami. She threw the key in front of Luffy's cage. "Thank you for saving me, but we're even now." Luffy smiled and reached for the key only for a dog to pick it up and swallow it. All of them starred in shock as Luffy angrily reached for the dog, arguing with it. "Hey! What are you doing to Chouchou!" The group looked over, seeing an old man in makeshift armor.</p><p>After they had discovered that the old man was the mayor, they got Zoro patched up and put into the mayor's old house. He told the three outside about Chouchou and how the shop was the dog's treasure. Luffy had quietly listened as he looked at the dog. "I like this dog." The mayor smiled slightly and Ace sighed, shaking his head. "Of course you do..." The three heard footsteps coming and Nami grabbed the mayor's arm, dragging him into an alleyway to hide. Ace looked at his brother before following Nami and the old guy, putting his arms behind his head. 'Can't let her just leave or we'll never have a navigator..'</p><p>Luffy didn't look away from the dog even when Mohiji and Richie appeared. He ignored the two when they questioned where Zoro was, sticking his tongue out instead as Chouchous stood up and growled at the Mohiji. "I am the beast tamer Mohiji! I can tame any anima-" He yelped in pain as Chouchou bit his arm, sending the dog flying as he shook him off his arm. Richie looked at the shop and Mohiji noticed. "Go ahead Richie, just don't take long." Richie walked toward the shop, swatting Chouchou out of the way when he tried to defend against the lion. "Hey!" Mohiji looked at Luffy before raising his paw and breaking the cage, sending Luffy flying into a building.</p><p>Nami and Boodle ran over to the building while Ace just followed behind them. Luffy sat up with a frown on his face. "How are you even alive?!" Luffy put his hat back on as Ace sighed. "He's a rubber person." Luffy got up and walked back towards where he had come flying from, ignoring the three. "And now he's mad. Oh well, not my problem for once." Boodle looked at Ace before watching Luffy walk away. "He could get hurt." Ace shook his head. "I doubt it, plus, I won't be far." Nami stared at Ace. "Who are you anyway?" Ace turned to her and smiled, tipping his hat. "Portgas D. Ace, Luffy's brother, and crewmate!"</p><p>Luffy walked back to see the pet shop in flames, almost fully destroyed. He clenched his fist as he continued down the road, finding Mohiji and Richie not far away. "I-I thought you were dead!" Luffy crossed his arm and smiled. "I won't die that easy." "Crush his head for sure this time Richie" With that Richie charged at Luffy, who twisted his arms around each other, grabbing onto Richie's head. "I won't lose to some lion!" He jumped upward, flinging Richie into the air before slamming him into the ground. Mohiji backed up. "What are you?!" "I ate the Gum-Gum Fruit." Mohiji started to sweat. "Y-you mean you're a devil fruit eater? Just like Captain Buggy?" Mohiji held his hands up in defeat. "A-alright, I peacefully apologize to you!" Luffy stood up. "You don't need to apologize. Apologies won't bring back that dog's treasure.." He turned around. "That's why I'm going to kick your ass."</p><p>Nami, Boodle, and Ace had only just gotten to the shop, seeing it had been burnt down. Ace looked down slightly as Nami grew angry. Luffy walked past the three, carrying a box of food. "All pirates are the same. They take things that people care about. You'll do the same! Maybe I should try and kill you here to stop you from gathering a crew!" Boodle grabbed onto Nami as she yelled at Luffy, who ignored her. Ace quietly smiled as Luffy set the box of dog food down. The other two stared in shock as Luffy sat down next to the dog. "This was all I could get back. The bastard ate all the rest of it." Nami calmed down some. "He fought the lion for the dog's sake..?" Ace looked over to Nami. "If there's anything you should know about Luffy, it's that he'll fight for anyone if they've lost their treasure..." 'Because he knows what it's like...so do I...'</p><p>After Luffy spoke to the dog it picked up the box of dog food and walked away, leaving the burned down shop. Luffy turned to look at the three watching him. "Did Zoro get crushed by the building?" Ace pointed behind him as Luffy got a hit on the back of the head. "I was trying to sleep but it seems you're still a magnet for trouble." Luffy laughed, unaffected by the hit. Boodle, watching the group sighed. "Sorry for yelling at you earlier.." Luffy looked over at Nami and smiled. "It's okay, you've been through a lot." Nami's eyes widened slightly before they were all shaken by one of Buggy's Buggy Balls being fired into the town. The mayor clenched his fist. "I can't just let this happen anymore! I'm gonna go give Buggy a taste of my mind!" With that Boodle ran off before any of them could oppose.</p><p>Boodle stood out of breath, facing Buggy. "I'm Mayor Boodle! This town is the citizen and my treasure so I'm here to fight you!" Buggy laughed. "Treasure is gold and silver! Not some town!" One of his hands, which he had secretly detached as soon as he saw Boodle, grabbed into his neck, lifting him up. "Don't go getting cocky now." Boodle glared at him as he struggled. "I will not let you destroy this town! I'd rather die!" Buggy smiled widely. "Fir-" He stopped as his hand was harshly grabbed. "The straw hat guy!!" "I'm here to kick your ass like promised." Buggy glared, pulling his wrist away from Luffy's grasp.</p><p>Boodle stood up, trying to tell the four of them not to fight for him. Luffy ignores him though and simply punched him to knock him out. Nami freaks out as Zoro and Ace both shake their head, unsurprised by his actions at that point. Luffy looks at Buggy with a wide smile. "Alright, here it goes...BIG NOSE!!!" Nami gasped and both Ace and Zoro sweatdropped. "Wh-what?!" Luffy laughed at Buggy's anger. "How dare you, you flashy idiot! Flashily fire the Buggy Ball!!" The men quickly aimed and shot a Buggy Ball at the group. Zoro and Nami both started to back up. Ace simply sighed at his brother's antics.</p><p>Luffy sucked in air, growing huge and bouncing the Buggy ball back at them, causing everyone but Buggy and Cabaji, who had used Richie as a shield. "Captain. Please, let me handle this." Buggy looked back at Cabaji and smiled. "Alright, show them your acrobatic show." Cabaji jumped forward on his unicycle, pulling out his sword and charging toward Luffy, only to be blocked by Zoro. The two crossed swords despite Zoro's wounds and Cabaji's attempt to play dirty. After Cabaji landed a hit on Zoro he smiled. "Is that enough of a handicap for you?" Zoro turned and got ready to attack Cabaji back.</p><p>As they fought, Nami told Luffy she was leaving and slipped away before Cabaji jumped into the air, aiming to strike Zoro from above. Buggy shot one of his hands at Zoro's ankles, intending to hold him in place but was stopped by Luffy who stepped on his hand. "Stay out of Zoro's fight!" Ace smiled at his brother before sitting down cross-legged. "I'll let you handle this Luffy." Luffy looked at him smiling. "Okay!" Buggy got even angrier. Ace looked over at Zoro as he slowly got up, preparing to end his battle with Cabaji. "Don't die, I don't want to be the one to tell your dad." Zoro rolled his eyes, readying his swords before attacking, knocking Cabaji down.</p><p>Luffy smiled as Zoro won his battle, falling down to sleep. "Luffy, I'm going to sleep now." "Right, I'll handle the rest." Buggy clenched his jaw in anger. "You guys are pirates?" Luffy nodded. "Yep. We're going to the Grand Line." "Heh, that isn't a simple voyage for nameless bums like you. What are you even going to do there? Go sightseeing?" Buggy laughed. "Become King of the Pirates." Buggy stopped laughing. "Huh? You? King of the Pirates?! Would that make me God or something?! I'm gonna be King of the Pirates and obtain all the world's riches!" Ace frowned, looking at Buggy angrily. "You're annoying. Bring it on already."</p><p>"Seeing that straw hat of yours brings back memories of him...that damn cheeky red-hair." Luffy and Ace's eyes both widened, yelling out at the same time. "You know dad?!" "Yea- WAIT DAD?!" Ace got up. "How do you know dad?" Buggy was staring at the two. "SHANKS IS YOUR DAD?!" Luffy started laughing. "Yes Shanks is our dad, now how do you know him?!" Ace's bad temper coming out. Buggy sighed. "Why should I tell you?! That just makes me want to fight you more!" Buggy threw one of his daggers at Luffy, who easily avoided it, not laughing anymore. Buggy bumped the back of his shoe, causing a dagger to pop out the front before sending his legs towards Luffy, forcing him to jump into the air. "Can't move in the air now can you?!" Luffy laughed. "Actually I can!" Luffy stretched his arm and pulled himself out of the way of some dagger.</p><p>"You are just as annoying as Shanks!" Luffy laughed and launched himself towards Buggy, crashing into a building behind him. As he got up Buggy fired again, which Luffy held back for the most part but it knocked his face and his hat. Ace realized that the dagger had cut the hat and was also angry, it was one of Luffy's treasures. Luffy glared at Buggy. "You cut dad's hat!" Buggy laughed before he felt a hand on his back. "Move and you're burnt." Buggy started to sweat. "Wh-what?!" "No one gets to mess with Luffy and get away with it." One of the crew tried sat up, giving up on pretending to be unconscious. "C-captain! That guy is Fire-Fist Ace! He's caused trouble with-" One of Buggy's hands hit the guy. "Shut up!" Ace let his hand turn into fire and Buggy froze. Luffy got up, putting his hat back on grumpily.</p><p>"Now, tell us how you know dad." Buggy reluctantly agreed, planning to run away after he started his story. "Shanks and I were on the same ship when we were teens. That bastard is the reason I'm like this. It's his fault I lost my ability to swim." Buggy clenched his fist. Luffy laughed as Ace shook his head. "This sounds too similar to how I got my devil fruit powers so far..." Buggy blinked and looked at him. "What?" Ace pointed a thumb at Luffy. "It was his fault I ate a devil fruit, now I just use it to annoy him when I'm not protecting him." Luffy huffed and the two started 'arguing'. Buggy saw it as the perfect opportunity to escape so he slowly separated his pieces. What he didn't realize was that Nami had come back after stealing his treasure and quickly grabbed his pieces, tieing them up. As soon as he tried to form back together behind them he realized what had happened.</p><p>Luffy laughed as Buggy's eye twitched in anger. He turned to Nami, sending his hand to attack her. He was stopped however by Luffy winding up and sending him flying into the sky. "Wow, I think that's the farthest you've thrown anything Luf." Luffy laughed before remembering the cut in his hat. He took it off, looking at it with a small frown. "I can fix it for you later." Luffy looked over to Nami. "As thanks for saving me." Luffy smiled. "Alright!" Luffy put his hat back on and ran over to Zoro, poking him until he woke up, telling him about what had happened. Ace looked at Nami, trying to figure her out before sighing and looking at Buggy's crew. "Well, this was a mess. Dad would probably find it funny.." Nami looked at him. "Who is your dad exactly? It seemed like Buggy knew him." Ace smiled. "A man named Shanks. He took us in when we were little and raised us with the help of his husband and crew." Nami smiled slightly.</p><p>As they were standing there a crowd of people appeared. Seeing Boodle on the ground they were infuriated. It didn't help that Luffy admitted he was the one that did it. So the four were now running through the town trying to get to the docks. Chouchou appeared when they turned down an alleyway. He barked at the citizens, letting them get away and make it to the dock. "Luffy please put me down..." Luffy laughed, putting Zoro down on their boat. "Sorry, Zoro." Ace sighed, turning to Nami. "Are you going to stick with us for now?" Nami shrugged. "Sure. I think it'll benefit us both."</p><p>The three boys got in their boat as Nami got in hers, setting off as soon as they could. "I was able to get a million berries." Luffy laughed a little and Nami looked at him before noticing one of the bags was missing. "Luffy! Where did you put my money?!" Luffy pointed back at the dock. "They need money to rebuild their town right?" Nami was going to hit him but she sighed. "Never do that again." As Luffy was looking at the shore he saw Boodle waving at them while calling them reckless hooligans and thanking them. Luffy smiled waving then turning around after they were out of sight.</p><p>"Hey Luf, do you wanna call dad and pa to tell them what's happened? He might like to hear about us meeting Buggy." Luffy perked up quickly. "Yes!" Ace and Zoro both laughed at his excitement while Nami leaned on the side of her boat, wanting to know more about their dad. "Maybe Mi will be visiting!" Zoro paled. "I hope not, he'd yell at me for getting injured by someone like that.." Luffy laughed and Ace shook his head while getting out a transponder snail and calling their dads.</p><p>"Hello! How are you boys?" "Hi dad!" "Hi Luffy! Benn is off yelling at someone right now. Ace chuckled. "Why?" "Hi Ace! He's been grumpy since you boys left and yells at everyone a lot more. I'll call him in a minute." "Hey Shanks." "Zoro? Did Luffy finally get you to join him?" Zoro sighed. "He ended up punching a Navy Captain for me so yeah.." Luffy laughed. "I also got a navigator! Her name is Nami." "I am not on your crew! We're just working together." Shanks laughed. "Well, hello to you too Nami." There was the sound of a door opening and Benn's voice from a distance. "Wait, are you talking to the boys?" "Uhhh, yeah?" "You didn't tell me?" "Well, I'm not sleeping on the bed tonight." Benn's voice was a lot closer now. "Damn right you're not. How are you boys? Has Luffy gotten into lots of trouble already?"</p><p>As they filled Benn in on what they had already told Shanks Nami took Luffy's hat to fix the tear in. "Luffy, give me your hat, I'll fix it now while you guys talk." Luffy smiled and took it off, handing it to her. "Your hat? What happened to it?" Luffy laughed some as Ace spoke up. "We ended up running to an old crewmate of yours that seems to hold a grudge. His name's Buggy." "And he's got a big nose!" Shanks burst out laughing as Benn sighed. "I told you to settle you mess with him but no, now look at the mess you made Shanks." The boys laughed at their dads.</p><p>After they had talked for a while Benn decided to ask what he's been thinking for a bit. "Where are you going next?" Luffy thought for a second. "Let's go get Usopp!" Ace made an 'o' with his mouth. "I forgot we told Usopp we'd come get him." Zoro tilted his head. "Is he the kid you two talked about when you visited?" Ace nodded and Zoro shrugged, leaning back again, trying to take a nap. "Well, you boys will probably have it easy there. Say hello to Merry for us and don't cause trouble." "Okay, pa!" "You too Ace." "Hey, I won't cause trouble as long as no one tries to mess with Luffy." Shanks chuckled. "Well, we should probably go now, but you boys stay safe. We love you!" "Love you too dad!"</p><p>After they said their goodbyes Luffy was excited, accidentally rocking their boat a lot. "Luffy I swear if you fall in the water I'm not getting you." Luffy stuck his tongue out at Zoro before almost immediately stumbling and falling over the side of the boat into the water. Zoro was in the water almost as soon as he fell though, pulling him back out and onto the boat. "You weren't gonna get him, huh?" Zoro rolled his eyes as Luffy laughed. "Shut it, Ace. Could you at least be useful and warm us up?" Luffy sat up, stretching and pulling himself onto Ace. "Ace is like a heater." Nami shook her head at their antics as Zoro scooted closer to Ace, also using him as a heater. "What have I gotten myself into..."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Oh yeah, before you all go, I wanted to say something! I personally find it hard to find fics that are finished for One Piece with specific ships/representation/au's so I was wondering if you guys wanted me to do one-shots of things you suggest when I have time? I'll probably write down the suggestions (as long as they're appropriate, which I will list what is and isn't if you guys want this) and if there is one I really like it may be more than just a one-shot ovo</p><p>I do want your guys' opinion before I decide whether I'll do that or not so please comment and let me know! If I get a few people saying yes then in the next chapter that comes out (after a little while) I will list the "will"'s and "won't"'s for you guys to make suggestions. And I legit mean any suggestions as long as they are in my will do list. Like, highschool au? Sure. Crossover? Sure. Rare-pair ship? Sure.</p><p>Anything. Just tell me if that's something you guys would like me to do as well in my spare time ^^</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. The Other Friend!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>May I just say that the song "Feel it Still" fits Shanks very well. As well as the trap remix of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" which fits Zoro super well. Okay,,, I'll continue writing now ;v;</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Luffy was jumping up and down as they approached the island. "Usopp, Usopp, Uso-" He was pulled down by Ace. "You're gonna fall out again. Just sit down till we're there." Nami laughed a bit. "You're a good brother Ace." Ace looked over at her. "Glad you think that. Luffy what did I just say!?" Zoro peeked open an eye to make sure Luffy hadn't fallen in before going back to his nap. "What's this other guy like anyway?" Ace held onto Luffy's shirt as he turned to Nami. "To put it simply, he's a liar and a sharpshooter. We've known him for a long time since his dad is on our dad's crew." Nami sighed. "Luffy sure does make some weird friends..." Ace nodded as Luffy laughed and Zoro crossed his arm. "I hope you're not including me in that."</p><p>As they made their way toward the island in the distance Luffy was trying to list people they still needed to have join the crew. "We need a musician, a shipwright, a cook!" "And a doctor. You're too daring not to have one on board.." Luffy looked over at Ace and laughed. "Yeah, a doctor too!" Nami sighed. "How many people do you want on your crew?" Luffy turned to look at her. "10 people! Like how dad's crew isn't super big! I just need my friends and I'll be good!" Ace shook his head. "Even dad has more than just 10 crewmates Luf." Luffy stuck out his tongue. "Well, I don't want a huge crew." "But what if you make lots of friends?" Luffy paused, thinking it over. "I guess I could have a big crew then.." Nami facepalmed as Ace just sighed.</p><p>After traveling about another hour, which was mainly Luffy getting more and more excited the closer they got, they landed on one of the small beaches the island had. As they got onto the island a few black pirate flags with a wide-mouthed skull were hoisted into the air. "Leave now pirates! This Island is protected by the Usopp Pirates!" As the four looked up, their feet were shot at. Ace just stayed still, letting himself turn to fire wherever he was hit, Nami jumped back, trying to hide behind the other three, Zoro moved a little to dodge the ones that would hit them as Luffy just jumped from foot to foot, trying not to get hit. Far up on the cliff after the shooting had stopped they could see a tall figure with a slingshot. Nami, seeing it was only a slingshot, picked up one of the bullets he had launched at them. "I've never heard of a pirate that uses a slingshot before." The figure aimed at them and Luffy smiled widely, knowing Usopp hadn't realized it was him yet. Ace pulled his hat down, knowing Luffy was probably about to do something stupid.</p><p>"Now that you've drawn your pistol, put your life on the line." Zoro looked over at his captain before looking up at Usopp, putting his hands on his swords. Usopp's legs were shaking and he finally fell onto his knees. Luffy and Zoro both burst out laughing as Nami tilted her head confused and Ace just shook his head. Usopp looked at them surprised as Luffy looked up. "Usopp! It's me, Luffy!" Usopp blinked before scrambling down. "Luffy!?" As Usopp got down Luffy was smiling as wide as ever. "You're here!" Luffy nodded. "Yep! And I brought Ace, Zoro, and Nami! They're part of my crew!" Usopp looked at the two he didn't know with a skeptical look. "Wait, is he the one you told me Luffy kept bugging Ace?" Ace nodded and Zoro looked confused. "Wait you talked about Luffy bugging me all the time?" Ace shrugged. "There's not a lot to do when you're stuck here for a week thanks to fighting between pirates." "Hey! Syrup Village is plenty of fun!' Luffy laughed as Nami looked more confused than ever. "It's so weird that you all know each other in some way or another."</p><p>"Hey Captain who's that?" Usopp looked up and smiled at the three boys that had peered down from the cliff. "This is Luffy and Ace! The two I told you about when I first made our crew!" The three blinked before having a mix of excitement and sadness. "That means you're going to sea with them right?" Usopp froze for a second. "Well...yeah, but hey! The Usopp Pirates are the greatest pirates this Island has ever known!" The three kids looked at one another before smiling and then racing down to ask the group as many questions as they could think.</p><p>After they had finally made their way towards the village Luffy immediately ran to get some food. "We never should have taught him the way to that place." Usopp nodded. "Especially since the old man that runs it can't say no to him anymore..." Zoro laughed. "So basically Luffy gets free food?" Nami shook her head. "Now that's just bad business." The four continued on after Luffy, hoping he didn't eat too much before they could stop him. Once they made it to the restaurant they found him eating a giant plate of food and just decided to join him in eating something.</p><p>"Mmphme gohnasekai?" Luffy received a smack on the back of the head from Ace. "Don't speak while eating. He asked when we're gonna see Kaya though." Zoro was unfazed by Ace and Luffy, Usopp seemed to be only just remembering what they were like and Nami had given up on expecting them to be normal at this point. "We can go see Kaya after you finish. She's been sick though... Her parents passed away about three years ago..." Luffy nodded lightly. "We'll make sure not to be too rowdy. How's Merry?" Usopp rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, mad at me to say the least. My stories have gotten a little bit bigger than when we were kids." Luffy laughed and Ace shook his head. "You're perfect for Luffy's crew..."</p><p>Luffy finished eating and they all made their way up to the house, mainly because Zoro and Nami didn't know what else to do so they followed the other three. Usopp was going to walk up to the gate when he saw Klahadore and stopped. "Ugh, that's the newer butler. He hates pirates and never lets me see Kaya. Let's just go around back. I made a lot of secret ways in." Luffy smiled and agreed, speeding off with Usopp and Nami following close after. Ace stared at Klahadore, having an eerie feeling as well as if he had seen him somewhere. "You coming Ace?" He turned to see Zoro waiting for him. "Sorry, something just feels off. I might just be overthinking it since Luffy hasn't gotten into trouble here yet though." Zoro shrugged. "Well, if something happens we can deal with it." Ace nodded. "That's true. We should hurry before Luffy accidentally scares Kaya though..."</p><p>Luffy had ended up scaring Kaya a little as he had stretched up to her window without warning. She had calmed down quickly after realizing who it was and welcomed him and his new friends as well as Ace and Usopp. "I didn't know you would be here so soon. Does that mean you're going to go sail with them Usopp?" Usopp nodded. "They'll need my help if they're gonna get anywhere." Zoro rolled his eyes but said nothing, instead looking out the window. He watched as Klahadore walked out of the mansion gates, looking around before heading off. Luffy saw he wasn't paying attention and poked his cheek. "Whatcha doing?" Zoro looked at him before pointing to Klahadore's receding figure. Luffy looked before smiling and hopping onto the tree outside the window. "Don't tell Ace, I'll be back in a minute." Zoro sighed as he watched his captain, not so sneakily, follow him.</p><p>A few minutes after he had left, Ace realized he was gone. "Zoro, do you know where Luffy went?" Zoro pointed out the window. "He followed the butler dude." Ace facepalmed. "We should go get him, he's gonna get lost." He turned to Kaya. "We'll probably be back later Kaya, tell Merry that we'll be here though, Luffy's probably gonna want food." Kaya smiled and nodded. "Alright. I'll see you all soon then." After a few 'goodbyes' and 'nice to meet you''s later and the four were off to look for Luffy. Usopp and Ace went on their own while Zoro and Nami went together to look, partially because they didn't know the island, but mainly because Zoro had no sense of direction after all the years still.</p><p>Usopp was the first to find him. "Luffy, why'd you run off? We wer-" He was pulled down as Luffy pointed to Klahadore and someone he didn't recognize. "Look." Usopp quietly watched with Luffy as the two down below discussed their plans. Luffy frowns as he heard they wanted to hurt Kaya. Usopp covered his mouth and backed away. "C'mon Luffy, we need to get out of here...!" Luffy sat up, accidentally drawing attention to himself. Usopp hid quickly as Luffy got hypnotized, falling off the cliff. Usopp looked over, seeing Luffy was on his face, and the other two below were looking up at him. He quickly got up and ran, hoping to find Ace or someone else.</p><p>Ace had met up with Zoro and Nami after looking around. "Where did that idiot end up?" The three heard footsteps and saw Usopp running overlooking terrified. "Luffy...fell...Klahadore....pirate!" Ace held the bridge of his nose. "Okay, okay, slow down. Luffy fell somewhere?" Usopp nodded. "And Klahadore is...?" Usopp took a breath before speaking. "Klahadore is a pirate!" Ace sighed. "And the trouble has appeared. Take us to where Luf fell." Nami looked at Ace. "Shouldn't you be more worried?! Luffy could be hurt or de-" She shut up from an intense glare. "Never even try to say that. And if Luffy died from a fall I'd bring him back to life to kill him myself. Plus, there's nowhere on the island taller than some of the places he's fallen from before." Zoro nodded. "I watched him fall off the castle one time and then just stand up and walk over to Benn because he had a small cut on his arm from some paper." Ace chuckled. "I remember that." Nami sighed, a little shaken from the glare still. "I swear you three aren't human." Usopp sighed in defeat, a little calmer now. "Can we just go already..."</p><p>The group found Luffy at the base of a tall cliff, face in the ground. Ace was looking around as Nami looked at Luffy cautiously. Zoro stared at him before sighing and walking over, lightly kicking his side. "Luffy. Luffy get up." Luffy grumbled before sitting up. "Wha..?" Nami sighed. "Why was I even worried..?" Ace saw two sets of footprints in some softer ground. "I guess Usopp was right. Klahadore definitely was talking to someone. Usopp nodded. "I told you!" Ace walked over, pulling Luffy up onto his feet as Luffy rubbed his eyes. "Should we tell the town?" Nami looked at Ace. "What kinda question is that? They need to get out and quick!" Usopp looked down. "No. No, we just need to stop them from getting to the town at all. The town shouldn't have to worry about pirates." Luffy smiled. "Alright!"</p><p>With that, the group made a plan to stop the pirates from coming up the slope. Ace of course was the only one to mention they could come from the other slope too. "Okay, so. We'll set up traps here and then go over to the other slope to set up some traps there too." Ace smiled. "While you guys do that, I'm gonna make sure Kaya and Merry are safe from Klahadore. If he leaves I'll come over quickly to help you guys out." Luffy nodded. "Okay! So let's get going!" Zoro sighed. "Why do I feel like I'm gonna be doing most of the work..."</p><p>Zoro was right that he was going to do most of the work. Nami refused to lift stuff and instead instructed the three as they did. Usopp was barely able to move one and joined Nami quickly. Luffy was able to carry the barrels with the stuff easily but he got distracted which left Zoro. He would normally complain but since they weren't actually that annoying to move he just settled for nagging at Nami for being too bossy. Once they had trapped the slope it was already too close to the time Luffy and Usopp had overheard Klahadore say. "We'll just have to fight them if they are at the other slope." Usopp and Nami sweatdropped slightly as Luffy just laughed excitedly. "Let's go then!"</p><p>The four made their way toward the other slope, somehow losing Zoro on the way. "I wonder if Ace had to fight the butler dude." Nami and Usopp sighed. "I hope he did." Luffy laughed as they made it to the slope. The boat was there and the pirates were already making their way up. Luffy frowned and used his leg to knock them down. Usopp shot some of them from the top and Nami threw some spikes, causing them to hesitate on getting up and going forward. Jango, the leader of the pirates that were here at the time, glared as the three appeared. He hypnotized the men, accidentally hypnotizing Luffy into being stronger as well. Zoro showed up in time to watch Luffy pull the front part of their ship apart and fall asleep underneath it.</p><p>The fight between the two crews went on for a while before footsteps stopped everyone that was still there in their tracks. "Jango." Jango looked up at the figure in fear. "K-Kuro..." Kuro, or Klahadore, looked at his old crew down the slope. "How can you get beaten by children like them." Jango stuttered out a response as Nami made her way to Luffy, waking him up as Zoro beat the Nyaban brother that was still up. Kuro watched in disgust as Jango tried to attack Nami to stop her from waking him, only for his chakram to be stopped by Luffy.</p><p>Before Kuro can really get involved in the fight he here's the sound of a gun behind him. Kaya confronted him, learning that Kuro had never really cared and was only planning her death as well as his crews, not that they realized he was telling the truth yet. Kaya dropped the gun and Usopp quickly attacked Kuro to try and protect her, getting badly hurt, which infuriated Luffy, causing him to attack Kuro out of anger for hurting his friend. The three boys on Usopp's pirate crew arrived only to immediately leave with Kaya, being chased by Jango, Zoro, and Usopp shortly after.</p><p>Kuro's fight with Luffy was fairly even at first. Neither did too much damage to the other until Kuro suddenly changed, attacking everything at even higher speeds than before. Luffy, seeing Kuro attack his own followers and watching them fall angered him even more. Nami, who had snuck onto their ship to steal more gold, watched in horror as she saw people fall left and right for no apparent reason. Luffy took a breath, getting scratched lightly on his arm, before he punched, hitting Kuro and knocking him off balance. "You should have just let me kill them. Now they're just suffering in pain." Luffy glared at him but couldn't speak before he was attacked again. He toom more hits but succeeded in wrapping his arms and legs around Kuro, halting his movements.</p><p>The fight was over with one hit to the head by Luffy's head. Luffy released him and let him fall unconscious to the floor as he went to grab his hat, too angry to realize his cuts hurt. Nami sighed in relief before hopping down with the gold she had grabbed. She walked towards Luffy when a gust of wind carried a large flame that formed into Ace. "Luf...you're scratched to shit." Luffy looked at his brother blinking before looking down. "Oh." He fell over, being caught by his brother. Nami walked over. "Did he not realize how hurt he was?" Ace looked over. "Oh, definitely not. He's done this before, which is why I said we need a doctor." Nami sighed. "I'm not even surprised anymore. Where were you anyway?" "Oh, while I was watching Klahadore, or well I guess his real name is Kuro, I realized I hadn't seen Merry and slipped inside to look for him. Kaya ended up finding me so I told her what was going on after telling her she couldn't go running off." "And she ran off immediately?" Ace nodded. "I found Merry pretty beat up in one of the rooms though so I had to patch him up. By then both Kaya and Kuro were gone."</p><p>Ace finished explaining what had happened as he moved Luffy, who had fallen asleep at some point, having faith in his crew and brother that it would be fine. "We should go find Zoro and Usopp, they're with Kaya right?" Nami nodded. "Alright, let's go find them then." Ace made sure Luffy wasn't falling before he started to walk toward the forest, following the path of destruction Jango had left. Nami followed after, wanting to know if Kaya was alright, she knew Zoro and Usopp probably would be.</p><p>They found them fairly quickly with everyone being alright and Jango unconscious on the ground. "Well, I see you guys are okay." Kaya, who had just finished patching up Usopp and Zoro, saw Luffy and gasped. "Oh my! Did Luffy fight Kuro on his own?" Ace smiled and gently put him down. "Yeah. He's fine though, he just fell asleep like he usually does when he's hurt." Kaya smiled. "Well, that's good." Zoro leaned against a tree. "So are those pirates leaving now?" Ace nodded. "They seemed terrified and were trying to leave. I'm sure they'll find Jango and get him and Kuro before they leave." Nami looked upset. "I don't get how they still respect Kuro after he tried to kill them." Zoro shrugged. "They're idiots." "You say that as if you aren't one." "If you weren't made of fire I'd cut you." Ace laughed as Zoro closed his eyes to nap. Usopp slowly sat up. "Thank you..." Ace looked over at him. "You know if you hadn't fought with us Luffy probably would have just made sure Kaya was safe but nothing else." Usopp sighed. "Yeah...that seems about right."</p><p>The group, other than the boys who went home, made their way to Kaya's mansion, meeting up with Merry who was up and moving already. He was relieved to see all of them alright, especially Kaya and Usopp. "Luffy, I have a gift for you." Luffy, who had been shoveling food into his mouth, looked over at Merry. "You do?" Merry nodded. "It's almost ready so you and your friends can stay here while it's finished and heal up some. I'm sure the town would love to see all you kids running around like when you were younger." Luffy laughed some. "Okay. We'll stay here for a few days then!"</p><p>Luffy was intent on calling Shanks to have Yassop talk with Usopp now that they had picked him up as well. Ace finally allowed him to after Luffy whined for a whole day. He didn't want them to at first since they had just called them a few days ago and they might think something is wrong. Luffy grabbed Usopp, Kaya, and Merry before grabbing the transponder snail and calling. Nami was counting the gold she had stolen and Zoro joined them, having nothing better to do. Benn was the one to pick up this time. "What's up Luffy?" Luffy blinked. "How'd you know it was me?" "Ace wouldn't call for at least another week since you guys called a few days ago." Luffy burst out laughing as Ace grumbled a complaint.</p><p>"Oh! Can you get Yassop though? We're with Usopp, Kaya, and Merry!" Benn laughed a little. "Alright, and hello you three, I hope my boys aren't causing too much trouble." Merry moved closer to respond. "On the contrary, they ended up helping us out quite a bit." "You'll have to tell me about it. Let me go get Yassop real quick, then we can talk." "Alright." Benn carried the transponder snail with him as he went to find Yassop, which resulted in a lot of the crew running over to say hi before going back to what they were doing. After he had gotten Yassop, and Shanks, he sighed. "Next time I'm just yelling for people you boys want to talk to." The group laughed before they began to talk and tell them all that had happened on the island.</p><p>While they were talking Ace's transponder snail which he had gotten from Marco rung. It was quiet when it first rang, making Ace blushed as he quickly tried to grab it. "I swear if it's that stupid chicken I'll-" There was a smacking noise. "Go pick it up Ace, it's fine. Luffy and the others can tell us the rest of what happened." Ace nodded and walked out as the others continued where they left off. Picking up the call, Ace sighed. "You have the worst timing Marco." "I do?" Ace sighed as he smiled. "Luf and some others were on a call with my dads." Marco laughed a bit. "I'm guessing I was called a chicken again?" Ace laughed as well. "Of course you did, you think dad will stop calling you that?" Marco sighed. "Not at all. Anyway, I wanted to know if you could come to meet up with me. Some stuff's happened over here in the New World and I figured I would fill you in. You're keeping an eye on the news as it comes out right?" "Yeah, only other person that does is a navigator Luffy picked up named Nami. Even then I think she only pays attention to the East Blue news."</p><p>The two talked for a while, switching off the topic of meeting up to what Ace had been doing. Marco found it very amusing that Luffy had gotten separated twice already. "I'm surprised he actually got Mihawk's kid to join him, hasn't he been asking forever?" Ace sighed. "Yep. I swear them being somewhat friends lead dad and Mihawk to have some weird rivalry with each other." Marco laughed. "Sounds just like Shanks. I figured Mihawk would be more like Benn though." "He usually is but I guess the idea of Shanks being a dad too makes it a competition somehow." "Your dad is weird." "You're telling me, I've only lived with him half my life." Marco chuckled. "Aw, come on pop rocks, no need to be sarcastic." "Shut it bird brain."</p><p>The two were interrupted by Luffy after a little while longer. Apparently, Yassop had knocked something over, leading to Benn getting mad and then having to end the call. "So whatcha talking about?" Ace was about to respond when Marco responded first. "I wanted to know if Ace could come to meet up with me for a little while. The New World has had some stuff happen that he would be interested in." Luffy sat down next to Ace. "I'm okay with that! Just bring me back some meat!" Ace laughed. "How did I know you'd say that." Luffy stuck out his tongue. "I'll probably wait till we set out before heading to meet you, Marco." "Okay! I should probably get going now though, I'll see you later Ace. Stay out of trouble so I can see you soon to Luffy." Luffy laughed and Ace rolled his eyes. "You're asking the impossible Marco. I'll see you later though, love you." Marco chuckled. "Love you too." Luffy laughed as they said goodbye, getting a hit on the head from Ace.</p><p>"Come on Luf, let's get back to the others, Merry told me earlier that the gift was finished earlier, meaning we can set out later tonight or tomorrow morning." Luffy hopped up. "Really? Yay!" Luffy ran back to the others, leaving Ace to get up as well. As Ace was walking back towards the dining room where everyone was he looked out the window. He had a feeling something bad had happened in the New World. At the very least it wasn't too serious since Marco was still joking around. Ace sighed. 'I hope Luffy won't get into too much trouble while I'm gone...'</p><p>After Ace had joined them again Merry revealed that he was fixing up a ship for them to take as their pirate ship. Luffy was bouncing out of excitement and everyone else was equally as grateful, glad to actually have a ship and not small boats. Usopp was glad but also sad, he would be leaving a lot behind, he kept thinking about his dad however and how even while far away he was still thinking about him and their village. "The ship is ready for you to take tonight if you'd like." Luffy smiled. "We'll leave in the morning! I want food before we leave." Ace shook his head as Zoro laughed quietly. "Called it."</p><p>The next morning they moved their leftover supplies from their small boats to the Going Merry. Luffy had spent most of the time running around the ship but none of them really expected him not to. Nami helped move her gold before leaving the rest up to the other three boys. Usopp, who had shown up later in the first place because he was saying goodbye to the three boys, spent most of the time talking to Kaya anyway. After everything had been stored they made sure they had enough of everything before saying their goodbyes. Usopp was sad to go but was excited to start his journey.</p><p>About an hour after they had set sail Luffy was on the deck drawing something with paint. Nami and Usopp walked over to see what he was doing. "We have a ship now so we can fly a Jolly Roger now!" Nami smiled slightly at his excitement before trying not to laugh at his attempt at a drawing. "I can make one for you Luffy." Usopp sat down, taking the supplies and drawing one for himself, receiving a light joking hit from Luffy before he made one for Luffy. Luffy looked at the flag with pure joy. "Paint one on the sail too!" Usopp stood up. "Okay, okay."</p><p>Luffy was off with the flag Usopp had painted to show the other two. Zoro nodded slightly, silently impressed, and Ace patted his head, saying it was cool. Nami kept Usopp company as he painted the sail as well since the two had quietly made a pact of being the weakest on the crew. Luffy finally stretched his way up to put the flag up. "Ace look!" Ace, who had followed Luffy outside, looked up and smiled. "Dad and Pa would be jealous." Luffy laughed before jumping down, landing on top of Ace. "You're leaving to go meet up with Marco right?" Ace nodded, holding Luffy with ease. "We're going to meet up closer to the calm belt so I can come meet up with you guys again before we head into the Grand Line hopefully." Luffy laughed. "If you can't that's alright, just tell Marco he has to get me food as well then." Ace laughed. "Alright. I'll try to meet up with you though, so don't get in too much trouble." Luffy laughed. "No promises."</p><p>Ace didn't stay for much longer after that, telling everyone he would try to meet up at Lougetown. After Ace left Luffy was down at first before Zoro let him mess with his hair, which was something they had done when they were younger whenever Luffy got sad, it was Zoro's way of making him feel better. It started when Ace and Sabo, before Sabo's incident, ran off when they were visiting one time. Luffy tried to go find them but couldn't, resulting in him getting lost outside the castle. Zoro had followed him, curious about what he was doing at first. Luffy had sat down after a while and pulled his hat over his eyes harshly. Zoro was going to leave when he heard sniffling and ended up walking over to Luffy.</p><p>"What's wrong?" Luffy didn't really respond so Zoro looked around before seeing some small flowers and remembering how Luffy had onetime said he could be a bush if he had flowers in his hair. "You can put these in my hair if you stop crying." Luffy looked up at him before taking one of the flowers and putting it in Zoro's hair, slowly smiling and getting distracted with every flower he added. Zoro was glad he had cheered him up some, it was also when he had started to see Luffy as like a little cousin. He knew Luffy was plenty strong, but also knew he could get sad. He also remembered being pissed at the two afterward. Their dads had to convince him that they hadn't meant to be rude. It also lead to Luffy being even more persistent about Zoro joining his crew however.</p><p>Luffy smiled as Zoro sat down next to him. "Yay!" Zoro rolled his eyes as Luffy started to mess with his hair. "You act just like you did when you were a kid." Luffy just laughed. Nami, who had wanted to ask when she first found Luffy messing with his hair but decided not to, had joined sitting out on the deck near them, asking about what Luffy planned to do. "We need a cook! Then we can head to the Grand Line!" "A cook? What about a doctor?" Luffy shrugged. "We can find one later. We need a cook. And a musician!" Nami facepalmed. "Did you honestly expect a different answer?" Nami looked at Zoro. "You're letting Luffy mess with your hair, you shut it." Zoro rolled his eyes.</p><p>A little while later Luffy was sitting on the head of the ship, staring out ahead of them. Usopp and Nami were looking around the ship a bit more and Zoro was taking a nap on the deck. Luffy laid down, looking back at his ship with a smile. 'Are you watching over me.....Sabo?' Luffy sat back up, grabbing onto his hat and staring out at the sea as the sun started to set. 'Zoro joined my crew, along with Usopp and a girl named Nami. You would like Nami. She likes money.' Luffy closed his eyes and took a minute to breathe before standing up and turning toward the ship. "Let's eat some food!"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I like the idea that each crewmate has their own way of making Luffy feel better after they see him while he's down. So far only Ace and Zoro have seen those moments. Zoro lets Luffy mess with his hair and Ace stays near Luffy, giving him lots of hugs, usually by just caring him around. Shanks and Benn both tell him stories or stay with him as he sleeps, letting him just know that they're there for him.</p><p>As for the others, I may list them later or wait for them to appear in the actual writing itself! I hope you enjoy it though!</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. An Eventful Encounter on the Baratie!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>[IMPORTANT]</p><p>Before I start, I want you to know that this one could be short, really depends on how much I want to write since it is almost identical to the actual story. The only difference is Mihawk and Zoro's fight really. I may pace it a little differently as well but that's about it. Along with that, I'm probably going to skip over the Arlong Park arc as it will be completely the same, no major differences, nothing. Lougetown does have a fun twist however! So you can look forward to that next time :3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Luffy and Usopp were testing out shooting one of the cannon's they had on deck when Luffy tried to hit a rock in the distance, missing by a bit. "Here, let me show you how." Usopp moved the cannon, aiming it at the rock before firing, hitting it directly. Luffy was amazed. "Wow!! So cool!" Zoro peaked out of the door to see what they were doing before going back in and sitting down. Nami looked over as well. "That is pretty impressive." Usopp smiled and put a thumb on his chest. "Just call me Captain Usopp." "No, I'm Captian." Usopp sweatdropped at how serious he sounded. "I know Luffy, I know."</p><p>After they had finished messing with things on their ship they went inside to eat. Zoro was the one to cook it, being a surprisingly good cook for a swordsman. It definitely wasn't the best food, but it was good enough for Luffy before they got a cook onboard. "Zooorrrrroooooo, I want more meat." "Sure." Luffy smiled. "We're gonna run out of food before long." Usopp nodded his head. "Good thing Ace left though, we would have been out sooner if he was still here." Nami sighed. "Luffy stole some of your food." Usopp looked down. "Hey! Luffy!"</p><p>As Usopp tried to steal his meat back, getting more stolen in the process, there was yelling from outside. "Come out pirates!" Luffy walked out the door. "What?" He was promptly attacked, easily dodging. "I've killed countless pirates and you, a no-name pirate, tries to kill my partner?!" Luffy was confused. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but don't destroy our ship!" Luffy grabbed onto the man, easily throwing him into the wall behind himself. As he hit the wall, Luffy saw Zoro come out and peer over what wasn't broken of the railing. "Hey, you! Aren't you Johnny?" Johnny looked up some. "Hey, who's calling my name with no respect?"</p><p>Seeing Zoro, Johnny sat up quickly. "Zoro?! Bro, what are you doing here!?" Zoro put a hand on his cheek, leaning on it. "I thought it was you. Why are you attacking our ship?" "Your ship?!" Zoro sighed and walked down the stairs as Luffy walked over to look at Johnny, who had sat up. "Yeah. I joined a pirate crew." He pointed his thumb at Luffy. "You remember the kid I told you about that never stopped bugging me about joining his pirate crew when he was older? Well, I did." Johnny looked at Luffy. "Really?" Zoro nodded. "Yeah, he convinced me in the end." Johnny stood up and bowed. "Sorry for destroying your ship."</p><p>After Johnny explained what had happened and Usopp and Luffy also apologized for accidentally shooting at them, he brought Yosaku onto their ship. As soon as Nami saw him she sighed. "It's scurvy. It happens a lot when pirates or people traveling overseas don't eat enough fruit or eat super unbalanced meals." Johnny blinked. "Let me go get something to help." Nami walked off. "I guess having a cook is more important than just good food." "Of course it is, not eating right is the death of many pirates." Usopp looked over at Nami.</p><p>After helping Yosaku, they told the crew about a restaurant on the see that is like a lawless zone where pirates go to eat as well as marines and civilians. Luffy wanted to see the restaurant and try out the food while the others were more interested in how pirates could dine there as well. "You may be able to find a cook for your crew if you go there. We can show you the way too!" Nami smiled. "Thank you." Luffy smiled. "To the sea restaurant!!!"</p><p>As they saw the restaurant they were all excited to try some food as well as possibly find a cook for their ship. As they lowered anchor, they saw a Navy ship doing the same. Nami and Usopp hid inside while Johnny and Yosaku hid behind a wall, not wanting to be seen on a pirate ship since they were bounty hunters. Zoro and Luffy looked over as the officer onboard noticed them, ordering the crew to just shoot them. As they aimed and got ready to fire Luffy tried to bounce it back at them but lost his grip, bouncing the cannonball into the restaurant's roof. Zoro covered his mouth, trying not to laugh as Johnny and Yosaku snuck further behind the wall, sweating as they looked at the restaurant.</p><p>Luffy was brought into the room that the cannonball had hit, seeing the owner. "I'm sorry." Zeff looked at him before using his hat to hit Luffy's head gently. "That's not good enough. Work for me for a year." Luffy frowned. "No." Zeff looked at him in slight surprise. "Huh?" Luffy didn't falter. "I'm going to the Grand Line, so I can't stay here a year." Zeff looked at him in interest. "Then are you going to pay me?" "I don't have any money. So one week." Zeff looked at him before laughing. "One week?"</p><p>As Luffy was talking to Zeff, trying to figure out how to repay him for the accident, his crew decided to come in and get some food. They were sitting at a table, deciding what to eat as the marine from earlier was also sitting nearby. The person waiting tables kept messing with him as the marine had been disrespectful since the beginning. As the marine, who had declared himself Leunitenatn Fullbody, was easily beat by the unnamed chef, Zoro had to hold in a laugh as he muttered, "Karma." Usopp and Nami just shook their heads, agreeing quietly. As Fullbody was dropped one of his crew came in, informing him about an escapee before he was knocked unconscious.</p><p>After Ghin, a member of the Don Kreig fleet, was beaten and thrown out by Patty, Sanji walked out, placing food down, telling him to just eat it. Luffy watched the two talk from above, a small smile growing on his face as he listened to the two. "Hey, you! Cook! You should join my crew and be the chef for my pirate crew!" Sanji looked up at him. "What?" Luffy hopped down onto the railing behind Sanji. "Join my crew!" "I refuse." Luffy sat on the railing, looking down at Sanji. "I refuse your refusal." Sanji stared at him. "You can't just do that!!" Ghin smiled slightly as the two fought.</p><p>After Ghin left Luffy tried to help out around the restaurant, failing miserably most times and ending up messing with his friends instead. Sanji was a little amused by his friends. The crew had gone back outside when before the restaurant grew quiet as a very destroyed ship appeared and Ghin walked in with someone leaning on him. "Please, help him!" Sanji closed his eyes and walked toward the kitchen without a second thought, only Zeff and Zoro noticed this however as everyone else was focusing on Don Kreig and Ghin. Sanji had gone to get Don Kreig some food, ignoring his other chef's protests as he told him to eat.</p><p>As Sanji was thrown backward after Don had eaten Ghin looked horrified at what his captain had done. Luffy gripped his fists tightly as he watched Don closely, already hating him for what he had done. Sanji sat up, unfazed as the others yelled at him for feeding him. "This isn't what we agreed on Don Krieg! You said you wouldn't touch the restaurant, plus we owe that man our lives!!" Don picked up Ghin, crushing his shoulder as he did. "Yes. That was delicious." People began fleeing the restaurant. "I like this restaurant. I'm taking this ship. My crew is hungry and weak from starvation. Bring them food and leave with your lives or stay and die." Sanji sat up as Don and Ghin talked, planning to cook them food either way.</p><p>Before any damage could be done to the restaurant, Zeff brought down a bag of food and put it in front of Don Kreig and Ghin. Don looked at Zeff with wide eyes, recognizing him immediately. Don frowned as Zeff revealed he had been defeated by the Grand Line before telling Zeff's own past and how he lost his foot and became a mere chef. Zeff was unfazed which angered Don even more, so he demanded that Zeff give him his logbook from the Grand Line, to which Zeff of course said no, making an even bigger mess.</p><p>Luffy ended up getting involved as well, claiming he was going to be King of the Pirates, making Don reveal all of his fleets were destroyed. Luffy didn't falter but was surprised when he heard Zoro and Usopp asking if he needed any help, while Usopp was shaking of course. Don only used the chance to make fun of Luffy's small crew before leaving with the bag of food to feed his crew. Ghin looked down before saying an apology to Sanji.</p><p>"There's no need to apologize, everyone in this restaurant only acted how they saw fit." The other cooks protested but Zeff shut them up. "Have you ever been on the brink of starvation? Do you know how scary it is? To not know when your next meal is going to come?" The cooks were confused as Sanji simply lit his cigarette. "That's the difference between Sanji and you all. Whether you know or not." The crew grumbled in confusion and Zoro almost wanted to facepalm at their stupidity as he watched. "If you have time to grumble leave the restaurant already."</p><p>After the pirate chefs had all said they were staying to fight Luffy turned to Zoro and Usopp. "See, he's cool!" Zoro shook his head. Luffy paused and turned to Ghin. "Ghin. You said you didn't know anything about the Grand Line, but you've been there?" Everyone grew quiet, looking to Ghin for an explanation. Ghin looked down. "That's because on the seventh day when all our ships were destroyed...they were destroyed by one man...I remember his eyes. Those hawk-like eyes..." Zoro and Luffy perked up at his words. "What?" Usopp looked over to Zoro as he leaned forward. "It must have been Hawkeye, the fact that you felt like you were being watched by the eyes of a hawk is proof enough." Zoro clenched the railing before laughing some, drawing everyone's attention. "Mi seems to done quite the number on them, huh Zoro?" Zoro looked down. "Yeah...dad sure does go overboard sometimes." Luffy smiled wider, he was glad Zoro called Mihawk dad finally after he had seen them when he was first adopted.</p><p>Ghin looked up at him in pure shock as he put two and two together. Zeff was also shocked by the revelation that Mihawk had a kid but didn't show it and instead turned to Ghin. "Why did he attack your ships. "Hell if I know! We did nothing to him!" Zoro smirked. "He may have just been bored. "I won't accept that as a reason!" Luffy laughed slightly. "Calm down Ghin. That's just how the Grand Line is." Usopp looked from Zeff to Zoro and then Luffy. "We're seriously going to the Grand Line." Sanji looked at the crew as Luffy nodded with a smile. "You are idiots." Zoro looked at him. "When I decided to be the greatest swordsman I devoted my life to it. If I die reaching my goal then that's fine. I'm the only one who can call myself an idiot." Luffy smiled and nodded. "Me too!"</p><p>It wasn't long before a commotion outside cause everyone inside to run to the doors and windows, peering out. What they saw shocked them. The ship that had been badly damaged was falling to pieces. Everyone was in shock at first, not sure what was happening. Luffy saw a small boat out of the corner of his eye and smiled widely. "It's Mi!" Zoro's eyes widened and he hopped down, getting closer to the door. "He's here?!"</p><p>The three Strawhats were distracted from Mihawk's skill when they heard Yosaku and Johnny in the water. They ran over and learned Nami had taken the ship and left, leaving Luffy conflicted and ultimately upset. Zoro was angry but knew there wasn't much to do but go after her. "You go after Nami, I'll stay here and get out cook!" Zoro turned to him. "I want to see dad first. I want to see how much stronger I've gotten. "Luffy nodded, hurrying back towards the crowd as Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku grabbed the latter twos boat, readying it to go after Nami.</p><p>MIhawk was floating in the midst of the rubble he had created on his small boat. He was planning on leaving when he saw two familiar faces looking towards him. He sighed and moved closer to the Baratie, scaring the chefs. Zeff looked over as he saw movement in the corner of his eye only to see Luffy, holding onto a very frightened looking Zoro, stretching his arms. Zeff opened his mouth as Luffy launched themselves towards Mihawk's boat. Everyone was shocked when Mihawk caught Luffy by the arm, not letting him fall into the water. Everyone was confused by their interaction and Don was more pissed than anything else seeing the no-name crew from earlier talking with Mihawk.</p><p>"Wow, thanks, dad." Mihawk looked down at Zoro, who had fallen in the water. "You can swim." Zoro rolled his eyes and climbed on the boat as Mihawk let go of a very excited Luffy. "Mi!" "Hello, Luffy. Your dads won't stop talking about what you've done so far." Luffy laughed. "Dad, fight me. I want to see how much stronger I've gotten." Mihawk looked at Zoro and sighed. "Sure. I came because I was bored anyway. No holding back though." Zoro nodded with a smirk. "You know it." Luffy smiled. "Don't hurt him too bad Mi, we have to go get our navigator after this!" Mihawk shrugged as the two hopped onto some of the rubble. "No promises. Oh, but your dads did want me to tell you good luck if I see you." Mihawk's boat drifted back to the Baratie, letting Luffy get off safely as Zoro and Mihawk started their fight.</p><p>Zeff looked at Luffy as he jumped back onto the ship. "You really do know Hawkeye." Luffy nodded. "He's been around since I was a kid! He's kind of like my dad's rival!" Zeff was intrigued. "Who's your dad?" Luffy smiled, turning to watch Zoro and Mihawk's fight. "I have two dads! Shanks and Benn! They're the best dads ever!" Zeff's eyes widened. 'Shanks adopted a child? Does the world government even know?'</p><p>Zoro and Mihawk's fight didn't last long and Zoro got a large gash across his chest. "Hey! I said don't hurt him too bad!" Mihawk looked over. "He won't die, I know Zoro well enough to know that, just make him sleep more than he usually does." Mihawk waved as Luffy stuck out his tongue at him. "Yosaku, Usopp can you go grab Zoro and head after Nami?" Usopp nodded, fairly calm since Luffy wasn't worried at all. "Are sure your swordsman will be fine?" Luffy nodded. "Mihawk would be the last person that would hurt Zoro too much." Zeff seemed unconvinced but let it go as Luffy was already walking away to attack Don Krieg.</p><p>Luffy's fight with Don Krieg and the other fights on the fins of the Baratie didn't last long as everyone fought with all their strength, even Ghin after being poisoned. Everyone, both chef and pirate, was shocked every time Luffy took a hit and kept going, taking down Kreig in the end. The pirates were quick to leave after Ghin told Don that they had lost and it was over, piling all of them onto a small boat and leaving the restaurant. Luffy was happy to get food in return for helping them out as well as being told he was good now for the cannonball when he had first arrived. The chef's attempts to get Sanji to go with them didn't go unnoticed by Luffy but when Zeff asked him directly he replied that he wasn't going to make him come with him unless he said so. Sanji, who was outside the door, sighed, looking down, now knowing why they were acting like they were.</p><p>After he agreed to join Luffy, it was time for them to leave and go after Nami as well as the others. Johnny had stayed behind, planning to lead the way for them. "Luffy. Do you want my logbook of the Grand Line? It would be useful for you and your crew. Luffy smiled and shook his head. "No thanks. I want to experience it head-on, no help or anything. Plus, I've seen a little bit of the New World, that's enough for me!" Zeff laughed. "I knew you'd say that." Sanji looked at his new captain before turning back to the others. "Thank you. Thank you for everything." Sanji bowed down, some tears falling from his eyes as he did. Luffy smiled and Zeff turned away, hiding his own tears. "Just get out of here you brat."</p><p>The three were off shortly after, having plenty of food until they got to where they were going. "Luffy, you said you've been in the New World before, have you ever heard of the All Blue?" Luffy tilted his head. "No, what is it?" Sanji smiled as he started to explain. "It's a place where every fish from all the seas lives, the ultimate sea!" Luffy smiled at his excitement. "We have to find it then!" Sanji nodded. "Oh, you, Johnny I believe, where are we going anyway?" Johnny looked at the two with a somewhat grim look. "Well, Nami-sis was looking at one poster for a long time and headed off in the direction of the pirate, so we think she went to get his bounty on her own." Luffy tilted his head, feeling something was off. "That pirate was Arlong." Sanji frowned slightly. "I've heard of him some. He's a fish-man that's caused problems all over by claiming he's going to rule the east blue right?" Johnny nodded and Luffy scribbled on a piece of paper. "A fish person, like this?" He held up a strange combination of a fish and a man and the other two sighed. "No. Not at all."</p><p>After talking about their destination, Sanji had another question for Luffy. "You knew that Hawkeye guy from earlier, right? How?" Johnny perked up. "Oh, I want to know that too. Mihawk is one of the strongest pirates on the Grand Line, he's even protected by the government to attack other pirates." Luffy smiled brightly. "I didn't know that! Mi has been around since I was little. Zoro is his son! My dads always took me to visit him! I would constantly bug him to join my crew and he finally did!" Sanji nodded slightly. "So your dads have some influence in the New World then, don't they." Luffy thought for a moment. "I guess so!" Johnny and Sanji sweatdropped at his response. "This is gonna be an interesting time, isn't it." Johnny patted Sanji's shoulder. "Good luck with him as a captain." Luffy just laughed at the two and looked out over the sea with a smile.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Two things!</p><p>One, the reason Mihawk actually did slash Zoro is that he knows Zoro can survive it easily if he just rests up. He isn't aware that Zoro's gonna go fight Arlong's crew but since Luffy said they were going to get their navigator he did assume that there would be at least a small fight so he didn't injure him as badly as he could have, just enough for Zoro to be remotivated yet again to beat his dad.</p><p>Second, I'm skipping Nami's arc and picking up to them traveling to Lougetown before they enter the Grand Line. The reason is, it's exactly the same. Nami plays bad before finally admitting she wants to be free and they free her and she joins their crew officially. Ace doesn't come back yet and Sanji hasn't heard of Ace being part of their crew because it's been too hectic and it slipped everyone's mind to mention it.</p><p>Also, I may do a Law chapter soon going over the differences in Law's past since Cora is alive ^^</p><p>Oh!! One more thing I never mentioned! If you ever want to comment on an old chapter but decide to not because it isn't the newest I will be sad, I love going back to see comments even if I'm writing a much later chapter! It gives me the opportunity to look back on my writing as well as interact with you all! With that said, I'm still wanting to hear your opinion on the one-shot suggestions I mentioned in some earlier notes! (I'm leaning towards doing it but I really do need you to comment if I do otherwise it doesn't really work haha)</p>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Loguetown! The Beginning and the End!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I don't think y'all ready for one of the encounters hehehehe</p><p>Also! I'm so sorry I haven't posted in a bit, school got a bit hectic as well as my mom had some people over QwQ</p><p>It's Thanksgiving break for my school though, so now I have time to write hopefully!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Luffy and the others had been sailing for a few days without much happening. Nami was happily sailing again and most if not all their injuries were healed up. Zoro had begun training again, which Luffy bugged him about at first before helping him. Sanji was constantly trying to appease Nami, making her snacks and sweets only to have to make Usopp and Luffy some as well. He was never asked but he always ended up making Zoro one too and leaving it for him. Neither of them mentioned the habit but most of the others realized it and laughed about it at some point or another.</p><p>"Zoro!" Zoro opened his eyes from the nap he had been taking as his captain crouched down next to him. "When do you think Ace will get back?" Zoro sat up some more. "He said he'd try to meet us at Loguetown. If he isn't there he'll meet us after we enter the Grand Line then." Luffy smiled. "Good! He's been off with Marco for a while. I wonder what happened." Zoro sighed. "Why don't you try calling him. He left the transponder snail he uses to call Marco for you right?" Luffy perked up. "You're right!" He was up and off to go find the snail quickly. Sanji, who had been watching, tilted his head. "Who's Ace?" Zoro looked over. "He's a part of our crew. He went off to help out his boyfriend or something." Sanji stood up. "Alright. Do you want something to eat?" Zoro shrugged. "Sure. Luffy will probably want some food soon anyway so might as well just make lunch." Sanji rolled up his sleeves. "Yeah, yeah. I'll get on it then."</p><p>Meanwhile, somewhere on a sea that won't be named, Shanks was on the deck of his ship, slightly hungover. Benn was in the cabin, still sleeping because he had been the one up last to make sure no one broke anything. Shanks was complaining to no one in particular when he heard footsteps and looked over. "Hey, Mihawk." Mihawk walked over with a rolled-up paper in his hand. "Shanks, I found something you'd like to see, and from how you look I suspect you haven't seen it." Shanks sat up more. "What is it?" Mihawk sat down on a nearby barrel. "Go wake up Benn and I'll show you." Shanks grumbled but got up and went to get Benn up.</p><p>After Benn was up and they were both back outside with Mihawk, he handed them the paper. Shanks took it and unrolled it, seeing it was a bounty. "LUFFY'S GOT HIS FIRST BOUNTY!!!!!" Benn smiled and took the wanted poster before Shanks accidentally ripped it or something. "We have to celebrate!" Mihawk looked a bit apprehensive. "Weren't you just hungover?" "Nevermind that! Luffy has a bounty now!" Shanks got up, making sure the whole crew heard the news. "Is this what it was like when Ace got a bounty. Benn nodded. "Shanks won't be allowed to drink a lot today though thanks to where we're heading right now." "Ah, that is actually something I wanted to ask you about. It's not rare for you guys to be here, but you haven't really come to this see in a while so I wanted to know why." Benn smiled. "That's simple."</p><p>Back on the Going Merry, Nami had just seen the same bounty that the Red-Hairs had. She sighed and shook her head, walking over to the main deck. "Hey, Luffy! Come over here!" Luffy leaned back on the sheep's head, seeing Nami was holding something. "Ooo! What do you have?" He rolled off the head and landed on his feet before reaching over and pulling himself across the deck. The other three had come over, curious about what Nami had as well. Nami held it up, showing it to them all. Luffy smiled widely as he read the poster. "I got a bounty!!!!" Zoro smirked. "Good job." Nami sighed and shook her head. "It's not good, it means that we're targets! Especially since your first bounty is 30,000,000!!! What pirate starts with a bounty that high!!!"</p><p>After the whole event of Luffy's first bounty, he saw an island not too far away. "Hey, Nami! There's an island!" Nami walked over to the side of the ship. "Oh, that's Loguetown. It's considered the beginning and the end since Gol D. Roger was born and died there." Luffy looked at the island with excitement. "We're going there!!!" Nami sighed. "That's not surprising." "We were already going there Luffy, that's where Ace said he might meet us." Luffy looked over at Zoro. "Oh yeah."</p><p>With that, the Strawhats were on their way to Loguetown, all unaware that the island was controlled by a marine named Smoker who had not let a single pirate make it to the Grand Line if they stopped there the entire time he had been placed there. They were also unaware of a certain pirate crew and pirate also stopping at the island to find them. Quite frankly, there were a lot of people on the island that the crew was unaware of.</p><p>Once they had landed Luffy was off, not giving anyone a chance to go after him. Luffy was determined to make it to the execution tower where Roger died but was way too excited to pay attention to where he was going, getting extremely lost. He ended up at a dock where he saw a large white-haired man, Smoker. Luffy walked over, not really caring that he was a marine. "Do you know where the execution platform is?" Smoker looked down at him, having a feeling he was important. "Why?" Luffy smiled. "I want to see where the King of Pirates was executed!" Smoker was unsure how to respond at first but let a trail of smoke trail toward the platform. "Follow the smoke." Luffy smiled and ran after it, yelling back a "Thank you!"</p><p>Luffy ended up lost again, however, finding a bar and going in. The old man working the counter looked at him. "We're closed. For good." Luffy tilted his head and sat down. "Aw, why?" The old man liked something about Luffy and sighed, joining him and telling him why before telling him a little more about Roger after seeing Luffy's interest in the topic. "You really like Roger don't you?" Luffy nodded. "I'm going to be King of the Pirates one day." The old man stared at Luffy before laughing. "Well! If there are still pirates like you out there then I may hold off on closing this old place down." Luffy smiled, glad he could help.</p><p>While the others were off on the island, they were dealing with their own little problems. Usopp was getting scammed then getting sucked into a fight with a bounty hunter. The bounty hunter ended up knowing Yassop which made quite the mess. Nami had gotten roped into watching the dual after just trying to buy some paper. Zoro was trying to find better swords since two of them had broken when he fought his dad. He ran into a scarily familiar girl before he got two new swords and quickly left after learning she was a marine, just not a very smart one. Sanji ended up in a cook-off, winning fairly easily and getting a large fish he had never had the chance to cook since it wasn't from the east blue and had accidentally gotten sucked over here.</p><p>After they had all figured out their messes they were heading back to the ship before they overheard that a certain rubber captain had gotten caught by a pirate and was going to be executed. "Nami, Usopp, take this stuff back to the ship, we'll go get Luffy." With that, Zoro and Sanji were running to the town square to save their captain. Luffy, who was trying to wiggle his way out of the woodblock holding him, was looking over a crowd of citizens, Alvida, Buggy Pirates, and marines. He watched Zoro and Sanji run into the square. "Luffy!" Luffy looked up and laughed a bit. "Hi, Zoro!" Zoro facepalmed before pulling out his swords. "Hold on, we'll get you!" Sanji kicked anyone that dared get too close.</p><p>The two however were a little too swarmed with people as Buggy raised his sword. Smoker, who was watching from a building nearby, was shocked as he saw Luffy smiled at his fairly apparent oncoming death. Luffy laughed and looked at his two crewmates in the cloud. "Oops. Sorry Zoro, Sanji, I'm dead!" Zoro and Sanji looked over frantically as Buggy brought down his sword only for lightning to strike him before he could touch Luffy. The lightning didn't only stop him from cutting off Luffy's head, but brought the whole platform down, freeing Luffy completely. Luffy stood up and laughed. "I'm alive!" Sanji and Zoro sighed in relief before Luffy ran over. "Come on, let's get out of here!"</p><p>Smoker stared in disbelief. "It's as if God protected him..." A marine looked at him uncertainly. "Have you ever seen a criminal smile on that platform?" The marine jumped a little. "N-no, they always either turn pale with fear or beg for their life." Smoker sighed, composing himself. "He was smiling." 'Just like that man on that day...' Smoker turned, planning to chase after Luffy while the others fought the Buggy Pirates.</p><p>A figure on the roof smiled as he watched the three boys run to the docks. 'King of the Pirates? That's fine by me.' Another two figures on the streets sighed in relief as the three escaped. "I swear they'll be the death of me one day..." Luffy was laughing as both Zoro and Sanji told him how reckless and stupid he was. They were interrupted by marines, who Sanji stayed behind to fight off. Then Tashigi, the girl who had helped Zoro buy his two swords who challenged him to a fight, letting Luffy run ahead as well. Luffy was stopped by Smoker, who blocked his path. "You won't be leaving this island Strawhat." Luffy smiled. "Too bad!"</p><p>The two fought, which was an even battle as neither were able to really damage the other badly. Smoker did however trap Luffy, holding his sea prison stone-tipped weapon to the back of Luffy's neck before raising it to strike him. He was stopped however by a cloaked figure. "I can't let you do that." Smoker looked up at him and frowned. "You. Is it your job to back pirates now?" The figure smiled as Luffy tried to turn around or escape Smoker's grip. "Yes, it is actually." A mysterious wind picked up, carrying Luffy as well as his friends away from their battles and to the docks. Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji looked equally as confused but forgot their confusion when they saw how far the ship was and the oncoming marines. Luffy smiled before running backward, stretching his arms as Zoro sweatdropped and Sanji looked confused. "Hold on!" Luffy launched himself toward the ship, carrying Zoro and Sanji with him.</p><p>The mysterious figure watched the crew make their way off the island from the top of a roof when he hears two sets of footsteps from behind. "Hello...Dragon." Dragon turned around, ready to attack but untensed when he saw who it was. "What brings you here, Red Hair." Shanks smiled and stood next to Dragon as Benn looked back at the chaos in the town. "Same reason you are." Dragon looked confused. "But I'm here for-" "I know. Who do you think has been raising him?" Dragon's eyes widened slightly. "But I told my father to take care of him." Shanks smiled. "I know, you wanted to protect him right? Well, the government found out he was your kid and chose to target him anyway." Dragon looked down. "Don't feel bad. He doesn't hate you. He is curious why you left, and definitely not perfect, but he doesn't hate you." Dragon smiled slightly. "Well, at least he doesn't hate me."</p><p>"You do have one kid who hates you though." Dragon looked over at Benn confused as Shanks laughed a little. "Ace. His brother. He's pretty dead set on punching you at least once for leaving Luffy all alone." Dragon looked back at the sea. "Well, I can't blame him now can I?" Shanks and Benn both smiled. "I think if Luffy got the chance to talk with you. He would still love you, although I do think I have stolen the position of dad." Dragon laughed. "That's alright, I figured someone would take that position instead of me." The three talked only a little while longer about Luffy, mainly about how he's been before going their separate ways, promising to talk sooner than later.</p><p>Luffy looked back at the island. "That was some weird wind." Zoro hit Luffy on the head. "That's what you're thinking about?! You were almost executed! Ace would have had everyone's head if you were killed." Luffy just laughed. "Oh, we didn't see Ace..." Luffy took off his hat and looked at the three vivre cards, noticing two of them pointed in the same direction as they had just come from. He smiled and looked back. Zoro noticed the cards and put two and two together as well. "At least someone saw you off." Luffy laughed. "That's true!" Luffy put his hat back on and walked to the middle. "Next stop, the Grand Line!" His crew smiled and joined him on the deck as he grabbed a barrel, putting his foot on top of it. "To be the Pirate King!" Zoro smirked and put his foot on top. "To be the greatest swordsman." Nami was next. "To draw a map of the world." Sanji put his foot up and smiled. "To find the all blue." Usopp sighed and put his foot up before smiling. "To be a brave warrior of the sea!"</p><p>After they had resolidified their goals, Luffy smiled brightly. "Where to Nami?" Nami sighed. "Of course you don't know. One second." Nami walked to the cabin and came back with a map. "The entrance to the Grand Line is here. It's called the Reverse Mountain. It will take a little while to get their though." Zoro looked at it confused. "How is the entrance a mountain." Nami shrugged. "I'm not too sure. We'll see when we get there. For now, let's-" "Let's eat lunch!!!" Sanji sighed with a smile. "Alright, time to cook up that prize fish!" They all smiled, ready for anything.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So what did you guys think of Dragon and Shanks talking? Think maybe something could happen thanks to this since a certain someone is with Dragon? Hehehehe &gt;:3</p><p>Also! I didn't get too many responses on the one-shot thing from the endnotes of chapter 6, but I figured you guys are at least a little interested so I will be doing it! So next is the wills and will not's for this, because I do have a certain line I am not comfortable writing about.</p><p>Wills:<br/>Anything about specific representation, like a visible or non-visible disability, certain sexuality or gender, etc. I strive to be able to accurately write representation well in stories!<br/>Any ship that isn't between family or pedophilic! For example, Marco and Ace, while they do have a wide age gap, only meet after Ace is 20 so it isn't pedophilic, just some gay pirates that date whoever they can on the sea XD.<br/>Any au! (As long as I can understand it that is haha)<br/>Any crossover (Although I will definitely be better with certain crossovers if I know the show lol)</p><p>Will not's:<br/>Smut/Lemons or anything sexual really, I'm not comfortable with that stuff, I may insinuate that people have done it at times but that is as far as it will ever go. (Making out does not count for this as that's just kissing in my mind btw)<br/>Like said above, pedophilic or incest ships. I don't care if people aren't technically related by blood or not, I will not do it if they are canonically family. For an example of canonically, I will never ship any of the ASL bros, but Zoro and Luffy are just good friends in canon so I would write something for that ship (because they are only like cousins in this story, not all of the ones I will write).<br/>Anything that is just pure gore(no actual story/meaning) or an attack on anyone. I am here to make people happy, not upset. The most I will ever make someone sad is a good sad through an emotional part in a story.<br/>Lastly, Y/N things. I just really don't understand them that well, sorry..</p><p>Some maybe things are Oc one-shots, the gore thing above(if it isn't just to make others sad and has some meaning or lesson from it, even if the lesson is a sadder one), and probably other things I can't think of rn</p><p>With that, that's the basics of what I will and won't do for stories! So now if you guys have an idea you would like to see feel free to suggest it and I will add it to a list to write! I really hope you guys enjoy this and leave suggestions as I would love to expand my writing as well and this is a good way to do that! :)</p><p>One last thing, would anyone be interested in me making an insta for writing updates and possible art I am comfortable enough to share? It would also work for you guys connecting to me easier. I am not the best at being super active on insta though so warning before that. I love feedback so please comment on this and the one-shot suggestion stuff above ^^</p><p>Love you all, have a good day or night! Actually, a good week!</p>
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<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Learning More</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Read first!!!!</p><p>Okay, hoping again with a small explanation of events here as they are almost identical to canon. They meet Laboon, Vivi, Karoo, etc. before they go to the islands that lead to them getting to Drum and getting chopper. This entire time Ace is not with them, he tried to leave a message in Drum, which didn't work, and so Luffy is unaware when he will see Ace again, which upsets him but lots has been happening to distract him as well. He hasn't had much free time till now.</p><p>Which leads to this chapter! This chapter is a little break from canon to see more of the dynamics of the crew so far, which has gained Vivi, Karoo, and Chopper. As well as what some others are doing at the time ^^</p><p>[Side note as I look at this more recently since along with quite a bit of the next chapter(s) has been written a few months ago]<br/>I have so many spelling and grammar mistake, man you can tell this was just my write to feel better fic jkgjkg</p><p>I do plan on continuing this more but I'll just post what I have prewritten from earlier before I write new chapters. I kinda don't like certain things about the way I wrote this fic so when we get back to me actually writing please let me know if it's too much of a difference and if I should just rewrite the fic!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Luffy was sleeping in for the first time since he had joined the crew. Chopper, who had woken up early and been talking with Zoro, didn't think much of it when everyone woke up before him. Nami, Usopp, and Sanji however were very concerned for their captain. "I've never seen him sleep in. Do you think he did get sick on Drum?" Sanji shook his head. "We left a few days ago, he would have been sick sooner than this." Vivi tilted her head. "He may just be tired today. Is it really that strange?" Usopp nodded. "I've never seen him sleep in! He's always the first up. If he's tired he'll just fall asleep while doing something later!" Vivi furrowed her eyebrows. "That does seem strange then..." Nami looked toward Chopper and Zoro. "Hey Chopper? Do you think you could go check on Luffy to make sure he's okay?" Chopper nodded. "Okay! It does sound like he's sick if he never sleeps in so I'll go-" Zoro sighed, putting a hand on Chopper's head to stop him from getting up. "Let him sleep."</p><p>Nami put her hands on her hips. "Luffy isn't you Zoro, he doesn't just sleep all the time." Zoro sighed. "He does somedays. It happened a lot one time when he was a kid." Chopper tilted his head. "You knew Luffy as a kid?" Zoro blinked. "Oh yeah, you didn't know." He sat up more, quietly indicating he was going to talk about the past, which caught everyone's attention since normally Zoro didn't say much about it. "Luffy will randomly have days where he just sleeps and doesn't do much. It varies but on days like this he can vary from not eating, to not talking, or to just sleeping or a combination of all of those." Chopper looked slightly concerned, thinking. The others walked over and sat with them, Sanji being the first to ask what they were all thinking. "Do you know why?" Zoro leaned his head back. "I do." Nami's eye twitched. "Are you going to tell us?" Zoro looked down at her with a sharp gaze, making everyone stiffen slightly. "No. And you aren't going to bring it up either. If you do I'll throw you overboard myself." The crew stayed quiet at how cold Zoro's tone was.</p><p>"Just leave him be. If you're that worried then I'll go check up on him. And I'll take Chopper too I guess." Nami and Vivi nodded their head slightly as Sanji sighed. "I'll go make us something to eat then, if Luffy wakes up he still may want food right?" With that Sanji got up, telling the girls to come with him so he could cook them something sweet. Usopp had been quiet, looking downward. "Is it because of him?" Zoro stared at Usopp before nodding. "Yeah. I guess you met him as well then?" Usopp nodded. "It makes a lot of sense then. I'll make sure to try and keep them from bugging Luffy." "Thanks." Usopp got up and walked toward the kitchen. Chopper was starring at Zoro. "I know what you want to ask, but I can't tell you unless Luffy is okay with it. It's a very touchy subject." Chopper nodded and looked away. "I understand."</p><p>It wasn't even an hour later that Nami made Zoro take Chopper to check on Luffy. Zoro walked into the room, shutting the door behind the two. "Luffy? You awake?" Luffy moved slightly. "I'll take that as a yes." Zoro walked over and pulled up a chair. "You know the crew is worried about you. They've never seen you like this. Usopp figured out why pretty quick but Nami, Vivi, and that damned cook aren't convinced you aren't sick. They made Chopper and I come to check cause I told them not to bug you." Chopper had quietly taken a seat, watching Luffy quietly. Luffy turned to look at the two, mainly hiding under a blanket. Chopper frowned slightly, seeing he wasn't sick, but knowing something was wrong. Zoro looked down at Chopper. "Can I tell Chopper?" Luffy stared before mumbling and turning away. "Alrighty. We'll leave you be for now, and don't worry, Chopper won't tell anyone else, right?" Chopper nodded quickly. "I won't tell anyone! But thank you for letting me know, I can help you better if I know!"</p><p>Zoro left with Chopper, going back to the deck and sitting far away from the others. "I don't know everything about why he's like that sometimes, that'd be something to ask Ace, but I do know part of it." "Who's Ace?" Zoro facepalmed, "I forgot you don't know that either. Well, this works out I guess...Ace is Luffy's brother. They aren't related by blood but they became brothers before they were taken in by Shanks, he's the pirate that raised them." Chopper nodded slightly, knowing full well family isn't just blood. "Thing is, Ace and Luffy had another brother. His name was Sabo. He got involved with an incident and, well, you can figure that out. From what Ace's said, he already had days like this before the incident but he didn't really eat much for almost a month after that." Chopper frowned, trying to think of what else could cause him to act that way. "Usually Luffy would be clinging to Ace or one of his dads, but since they aren't here I guess he's chosen to sleep." Chopper looked up. "You're like family to him too right?" Zoro slowly nodded. "In a way I guess." "Then maybe you could help make Luffy feel better." Zoro rubbed the back of his neck. "Maybe. I can try later, right now we should let him rest still." Chopper nodded, glad he knew a little bit more about his captain, he could help better that way.</p><p>Nami was talking to Vivi as Sanji cooked them food. "I don't get why Zoro was so mad." Vivi waved her hand slightly. "It's probably personal for them, you can't blame him." Nami sighed. "I know, but we were just worried about Luffy." Sanji set food in front of them. "Here you go, Mademoiselles." "What do you think Sanji?" Sanji paused before sitting down. "Well, I'm mad that moss head threatened you two! But at the same time, I want to know what happened to make him that defensive. I know they're like cousins, but he seemed more like an overprotective brother." Nami thought for a second. "Oh my, how would Ace have reacted then?" Vivi tilted her head. "You mentioned him before, he's Luffy's brother, right?" Nami nodded. "He went off to go help out someone with something after we got Usopp so you two haven't met him. He seems fairly level-headed and kind but he's had a bounty on his head for a few years because he was found hanging out with Marco the Phoenix, one of Whitebeards crew."</p><p>Vivi was speechless. "You're telling me not only does Luffy know Mihawk but he knows Whitebeard?" Nami sighed. "Sanji, he's one of the four yonkos' sons." Sanji blinked in confusion and she facepalmed. "The yonkos are four pirates that are all too strong for the navy to take down but not stronger than one another. The four that currently hold that title are Big Mom, Kaido, Whitebeard and Luffy's dad, Shanks." Vivi was pale with surprise. "Luffy is the Red-Hair pirate's son!?" Nami sighed. "Yeah, not by blood, but from what I know Shanks took the two in when they were young but didn't let them fight or anything."</p><p>Luffy had been staring at the ceiling for a while. He had been thinking about everything that had happened recently and just couldn't move. He wanted Ace or his Dads but they weren't there so he tried to sleep instead. He couldn't though and only really moved when Zoro came in with Chopper the first time. He heard the door open and the same footsteps from earlier. "Hey Luffy, do you want to mess with my hair? I know you're probably worried about Ace but we both know he's fine, plus that paper in your hat is fine right?" Luffy gripped his hat before sitting up to look at Zoro. "Told you." Luffy smiled ever so slightly. "Come on, I hate having to make sure no one bugs you. I can't nap when I do." Luffy laughed a tiny bit and finally got up, taking some small flowers that Zoro held out to him. "You can put these in my hair if you go outside too."</p><p>With that, Zoro had gotten Luffy to actually come outside onto the deck. Chopper smiled when he saw him out and about, telling him he would make him something if he didn't want to eat real food. Usopp was also glad to see him up and went back inside to mess with his trinkets some more, not worried about watching the girls and Sanji anymore. Luffy sat down and made Zoro lay down so he could put the flowers in his hair. "If any of the others come out, I'm asleep." Luffy laughed some more and nodded, starting to put the flowers in.</p><p>As Luffy messed with Zoro's hair and covered it with flowers he took them back out and started to make a crown with the flowers in his hair. Luffy was already feeling a lot better than earlier, he was still feeling down and didn't want food really, but he was definitely in a better mood. Chopper came over and joined the two after a little while, watching Luffy before trying to make a flower crown of his own. "Hey, Luffy? You up to eating or should I go make a food supplement?" Luffy thought for a second. "I don't want food." Chopper nodded. "Okay! I'll be back soon then!"</p><p>Not much later the two were found by Sanji. "He's gonna kick your ass when he wakes up." Luffy shook his head. "Nope, I'm captain." Sanji shrugged, walking back toward the kitchen to tell Nami and Vivi he was up. "Don't say I didn't warn you." As soon as he was far enough away Luffy laughed quietly. "Still awake Zoro?" Zoro smirked. "Yep." He laughed some more. "Can you keep it in for a little while once I'm done?" Zoro sighed. "Sure. But you better be doing the same thing to Ace next time you get the chance." Luffy smiled even wider, imagining Ace with a flower crown braided into his hair. "Okay!"</p><p>The girls came out a few minutes later to talk. "Hey, Luffy. Why'd you sleep in so late?" "Because I could." Nami sighed. "So you were just being lazy for once." Luffy laughed a little. Vivi smiled and looked at the flower crown that was almost done. "Will Zoro be mad at you for that?" Luffy shook his head. "Nope! I'm captain, I can do what I want." Vivi laughs as Nami rolled her eyes. "It looks nice at least. Did you make flower crowns a lot as a kid?" Luffy shrugged. "Sometimes." He had, he always made them when he was bored around the village before he met Shanks and the crew, it was one of the things that passed the time by quickly. He usually gave them to Makino and when Shanks first came he made most of the crew ones as well.</p><p>After he had finished Chopper came back with a small ball. "Here Luffy!" Luffy smiled and took it. "Thanks, Chopper!" Chopper smiled. "Thanking me won't make me happy idiot~" Luffy laughed before swallowing it. The two talked for a bit as Zoro 'woke up', not really mentioning his now flowery hair as he listened in on the two's conversation. Luffy paused after a while and just starred at Chopper. "What is it?" Chopper tilted his head curiously before Luffy stretched and grabbed him, hugging him like a teddy bear. Chopper was surprised at first but didn't fight back. He didn't mind the hug, it was actually nice, and from a doctor's standpoint, he could see small signs that Luffy still wasn't 100% himself yet so reacting badly might make it worse. Zoro laughed a little when Chopper was hugged but was dragged into the hug as well which made Chopper laugh.</p><p>The two let their captain hug them before they realized he had fallen asleep. "Am I stuck here now?" Zoro nodded. "Yeah, but hey, Luffy's actually clinging to you, he only usually does that to his brother or dads." Chopper smiled, glad he was able to help out. "That's good! Maybe I can find other ways to help as well." Zoro smirked and closed his eyes, planning to nap as well. "Just don't tell the others, it's Luffy's place too, not ours." Chopper nodded before reaching for his bag that was a little bit away and grabbing a book to read.</p><p>The rest of the day was pretty calm other than Zoro and Sanji getting into a fight with each other thanks to the flowers in Zoro's hair. Zoro had ended up throwing some of them at Sanji after he had mentioned them and the two ended up covered in flower petals and being yelled at by Nami. Chopper spent the rest of the day after Luffy had woken up practicing making some medicine. Luffy had joined him, watching him work quietly before falling asleep on the floor. Nami and Vivi spent the day just talking and making sure Vivi didn't worry too much about Alabasta. Karoo, who had slept half the day away only to wake and find nothing happening, was also with Luffy and Chopper, having become a pillow after Luffy had fallen asleep.</p><p>Ace, who had only just arrived in Alabasta, looked around with a smile. He had been helping out Marco by chasing Teach around. Teach had stolen from Whitebeard and almost killed Thatch. Marco was pissed by this and wasn't going to do anything but once Ace had shown up and learned what had happened he asked if he could go after him, to which Whitebeard agreed reluctantly, saying he couldn't really stop him. He had tried to make time to let Luffy know what was happening but every time he had finally gotten a slight chance he was immediately off again with a new lead. He was going to be in Alabasta for a few days though so he left a message for Luffy, knowing he would probably stop at Drum after seeing the mess it had become and knowing Luffy's luck.</p><p>He walked through the streets, looking for an inn he could stay in, seeing that Luffy's vivre card was pulling from Drum, meaning he was on his way. Ace had a feeling Luffy wouldn't let him go for a while after they met up again but he knew he would probably be off after Teach again. He knew Luffy wouldn't stop him, even if it upset him, so he planned to make sure the crew was being good so far. He knew Zoro was probably fine but he had a feeling Nami might have caused some trouble, especially since Luffy's first bounty was so high. He found it amusing at the very least. Luffy and himself had both been ordered to be killed when they were kids but here they were, causing trouble for the Navy years later.</p><p>Ace found a small inn and got a room, settling into it before pulling out the transponder snail he had and calling. The snail rang a few times before it was picked up. "Hey, Ace. How are you?" Ace smiled. "Hey pa. I'm good, I just got to Alabasta. Luffy should be here soon as well, although I won't be able to stay with him for long. He'll probably hit me for that." He laughed. "Just make sure you stay safe, Luffy is probably worried enough with you off doing who knows what." Ace laughed even more. "Hey, I'm careful....enough-" "Ace I swear!" "I know, I know. I'll be careful, I promise." Benn sighed. "Good, love you. Oh, and your dad is passed out. He drank a little too much, but he loves you too." Ace smiled. "I know, I love you both too."</p><p>After Ace finished talking with his dad he laid back, thinking. His dads had called him the night Luffy left Loguetown and told him they had run into Dragon. Ace was surprised at first but was overall a little bit happier. He hated that he left Luffy, but, since he left him to try and protect him and still tried to check up on him, he wasn't that bad. He was still gonna get punched, that wasn't changing, but he wasn't the worst person out there. Ace smiled and put his hat over his face. "I wonder if you'd still want to punch him..."</p><p>Off on an island far away, Dragon stood looking out to the sea. "You're facing a different way." Dragon looked over to see Ivankov. "So?" "I said it before, you always face east, this time you're facing the Grand Line. Did something happen?" Dragon sighed. "I've said it before, I just like to watch the sky." Ivankov watched him unconvinced and he turned, walking toward the door. "How was the last mission?" Ivankov smiled. "It went perfectly! He did go overboard again. I believe Koala is scolding him right now." Dragon smiled slightly. "Oh, something did happen though." Dragon paused and looked back. "While we were coming back a newspaper came with news of the Red-Hair pirates, they were seen in the east blue again and longer than usual so the government was worried something may happen. When he heard the news though he seemed to space out as if his brain was trying to remember something. Koala didn't quite notice, she just thought he had zoned out." Dragon looked back toward the door, thinking for a second before continuing without another word.</p><p>The next days for the crew were hectic as they neared Alabasta. They planned to make a quick stop and grab supplies before continuing further in through a river. Vivi was a ball of stress as she worried something may have happened in the time she was gone. Luffy tried to cheer her up by distracting her but the closer they got the less it worked. Nami also tried to calm her down, reassuring her that they would figure it out and that it would be fine. Vivi could only hope though, having a bad feeling about everything. Luffy was the opposite though, he was excited to see a new kingdom.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hehe, Chopper's way of comforting Luffy is revealed! Well partially. While Luffy does like to cuddle his family when he's sad, he usually won't hug and cuddle anyone else, something just won't let him. Any other time and you'll see him clinging to everyone however. Chopper however gets to be able to hug Luffy as he is like a teddy bear in his small from which comforts Luffy. Zoro also can touch Luffy but Luffy won't actively cling to him like he would his brothers or dad and now Chopper as well. Along with that, Chopper also is willing to listen or just let Luffy watch him work if he needs a quiet place but doesn't want to be in bed.</p><p>[More recent note]<br/>I kind of have an idea for another story where Law and Luffy meet at a much younger age but I don't have much to it so if you'd like to see a fic like that let me know!</p><p>Also, go to <a>my Tumblr</a>! I'm gonna start taking fic recs for one-shots(possibly actual fics if I like the idea). I'm open to more than just One Piece fic ideas as well, honestly I will write just about anything I know and like! And if someone recommends something I don't know then I'll most likely go watch or read it!</p>
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<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Alabasta!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Luffy was the first to see the island, shouting out and accidentally waking up Zoro by stepping on him, who grumbled as he looked. Vivi smiled slightly seeing her home but her fist tightened with worry. Luffy saw but didn't mention it as Sanji and Nami talked about being too noticeable. It was decided Sanji and Chopper would go get clothes and then they could get their supplies and continue closer to their destination. Luffy was too excited however and ran off before anyone could stop him. Zoro sighed. "He'll be fine, probably." Vivi nervously smiled at the crew as they more or less agreed with Zoro.</p><p>Luffy was walking through the town without any care to try and hide who he was, yet somehow not getting noticed by anyone. "Where to find some food?" He walked looking around but couldn't see any food places, just shops and random vendors outside. He huffed, slowing down some as he continued to look. He didn't notice one of the small papers in his hat seemed to be pulling a lot more than normal.</p><p>Not too far away, Ace had found a small restaurant and decided to get food. He had been talking when he had fallen asleep in his food only to wake up to people staring at him. He shrugged it off and continued eating as the chef talked to him about something he wasn't really paying attention to. "Um, sir? That piece of paper seems to be falling out of your pocket." Ace looked at his pocket to see one of his vivre cards had almost fallen out. He smiled, realizing it was Luffy's. Before he could do anything other than grabbing it though he heard a voice behind him. "Fire-Fist Ace." Ace put the paper into his pocket as he started to turn around. "What's a famous big-shot like you doing in these parts?" Ace looked at him and crossed one leg over the other. "Looking for my little brother." Smoker and Ace stared at each other before Ace leaned back. "So what do you want from me?" "Be captured quietly." Ace shrugged. "Nah, I think I'll pass." Smoker didn't even blink. "Yeah, I figured. I'm busy trying to find another pirate right now, but I can't just let you walk on out of here."</p><p>As Smoker and Ace got prepared to fight one another there was a familiar voice to both of them outside. "Gum Gum-!" Smoker was launched through the wall along with Ace, who had a feeling this was going to become a mess very quickly. Smoker ended up farther away and Ace sighed standing up and walking back through the holes to go find the one who had launched the two. As he passed through one of the buildings he saw a very surprised looking family and stopped, bowing quickly. "Sorry for interrupting your meal." He turned, continuing before they could comment. As he got to the wall of the restaurant he saw Luffy and smiled, his suspicion had been right. "Hey! Lu-" He was slammed face-first into the ground as Smoker saw Luffy, quickly chasing Luffy as he ran from the building with a mouthful and armful of food.</p><p>Ace got up with a sigh as the chef and other citizens stared at him. "What do you get yourself into while I'm gone." He ran out the door, chasing after the two, which wasn't hard as they left a trail of chaos in their path. Ace saw Luffy run towards Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and some others he didn't know but could figure they were part of the crew now. He sighed before speeding up and landing in the way of Smoker, drawing all of the Strawhats attention. As Ace landed in between them, blocking Smoker's attack, Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, and Nami smiled. "Heya Luffy, I see you can't stay out of trouble for even a minute." Luffy laughed, being held by the back of his shirt by Zoro so he wouldn't tackle him. "Sorry!" Ace rolled his eyes. "Just get going, I'll meet up with you and the others!" Luffy nodded, turning and running off ahead of the others, smiling widely. "Luffy, who was that?" Luffy looked over to Sanji. "That was Ace!" The crew that didn't know him almost stumbled in shock. "Your brother was Fire-Fist!" Luffy laughed and Zoro shook his head. "You really didn't pick that up?" Sanji glared at Zoro and the two started bickering as Nami smiled slightly, talking to Vivi about Ace since she was very lost.</p><p>After the crew had gotten back to the dock, somehow losing Luffy along the way, they departed, knowing he would be able to get to the ship. Luffy was looking around confused before he heard someone land behind him. "And you're lost again." Luffy smiled and turned around, immediately hugging Ace. "Ace!" "Jeez, I wasn't gone that long. How about we get back to the crew so I can meet the new ones." Luffy nodded excitedly, more hyper than normal.</p><p>The two boys only got attacked once the entire time they made their way to the dock, which they fended off easy enough. "Uh, Luf? Where's the ship?" Luffy looked around as Ace looked back from where they had come and saw lots of people coming. "Found it!" Ace turned to see Luffy launching himself to the boat, leaving Ace. "Rude much?" Ace smiled and hopped down, landing on a small boat he powered with his flames. He was quick to head after Luffy toward the boat.</p><p>Luffy crash-landed on top of Sanji and Zoro, who were still bickering from earlier. He sat up and smiled as his crew sighed, not that surprised. "Get off me Luffy!" "Yeah!" Luffy quickly scrambled off, leaning against the railing. Zoro sat up and looked at him. "Where's Ace?" Luffy shrugged. "He gets mad when I suddenly launch him places." "Anyone would!!!" Luffy laughed. Sanji stood up, dusting himself off. "So, what's your brother like?" "Oo! He's super strong! I could never beat him as a kid! I would try now, but I might lose still!" Zoro sighed. "He is super strong, and super overprotective, so maybe don't piss him off, he will light you on fire." Sanji nodded slightly as Chopper sweated, thinking of some bizarre scenario since Zoro almost never said people were strong directly.</p><p>"I wonder if they're giving him trouble." "The only one giving me trouble is you." Luffy's eyes widened and he moved away from the ledge that Ace had landed on. "Yo." Sanji quietly looked at Ace. Luffy perked up and pointed to the three new people Ace didn't know. "This is Sanji, our chef, Chopper, our doctor, and Vivi! She's a princess! Oh and Karoo!" Luffy looked around for Karoo, who was laying on the deck while drinking water. He got up and jumped down to Karoo, scaring him and causing him to run around the deck. Vivi ran down the stairs to go calm Karoo down as Ace and a few of the others laughed.</p><p>Zoro sat down against some railing as Ace turned back to the five still up there. "So you're Chopper and Sanji?" The two nodded. "Nice to meet you! Oh Zoro, did anything happen after I left?" Nami sweated a bit as Zoro glanced at her then Sanji and back to Ace. "A certain person ended up getting into a fight with Don Kreig then almost immediately charging off and fighting Arlong." Ace just stared for a minute before laughing his ass off. "That's definitely Luffy for you!" The others blinked in surprise at Ace's reaction. "Dad also showed up and we fought a bit. Which ended up being annoying later since I had to fight with a cut already." Ace shook his head and finally got off the railing. "You can be just as dumb as Luffy sometimes." "Says the one dating a chicken." Ace rolled his eyes. "Does everyone just use dad's insult for him?" Zoro shrugged and closed his eyes.</p><p>Ace shook his head and looked at the other four. "Sorry, you probably know how me and Zoro know each other by now though." Sanji and Chopper nodded. "Well, I'd love to get to know you two more, I'm sure you have things to do. Sanji sighed slightly and pulled out a cigarette to smoke. "I'll go make some food for us." Ace lit the end of the cigarette much to Sanji's surprise. "Probably a good idea." Sanji smirked and turned to go cook. Nami shook her head slightly and turned to walk away. "Call me later, I'll be working on my maps for now." Ace waved as she left, leaving him with Chopper, Usopp, and Zoro.</p><p>Chopper was hiding behind Usopp's leg, not really sure how to feel. Ace was very kind but he was definitely strong, he could tell that much. Plus he still had that weird idea from earlier. Ace looked down at Chopper. "You're from Drum aren't you? I probably should have guessed Luffy would manage to get a doctor from there." Chopper perked up. "You know Drum?" Ace nodded. "I left a message for Luffy there but I guess it got lost." Chopper nodded slightly before pausing. Ace didn't notice as he looked at Usopp. "So how have you been?" Usopp shrugged with a sigh. "Being a warrior of the sea is tiring, but nothing for me." He posed dramatically. Ace smiled, seeing Usopp was still the same. "What are you guys doing in Alabasta by the way? I figured you would end up here but not why." Usopp's head fell. "Luffy wants to kick Crocodile's ass." Ace blinked in shock. "What?!" Zoro chimed in. "He's causing all the problems in this country so Luffy got mad and promised to beat him up to Vivi." Ace facepalmed. "Maybe it'd be better to stay with you for a little while longer.." Usopp and Zoro both nodded.</p><p>"Uhm, Ace?" Ace looked at Chopper and tilted his head. "Would you mind if we talked about Luffy for a bit?" Ace's brows furrowed in concern and confusion. "Why?" Zoro sighed. "He had one of his episodes. He knows about him now. But that's really all I told him." Ace thought for a minute before looking back at Chopper. "Sure, let's go somewhere else though." Chopper nodded, quickly showing Ace to his workroom. Zoro closed his eyes again and Usopp watched the two leave. "I wonder how much he'll tell Chopper." Zoro shrugged. "Who knows. I know a lot more than I say, so do you, but it's not our place to talk about it." Usopp looked back at Zoro and nodded.</p><p>Chopper and Ace were sitting in the room Chopper had taken over with his medical supplies. "So, you know about Sabo?" Chopper nodded slightly. "I know he was your brother as well and was involved in an incident. Zoro told me he still had moments like that before though. It's not odd to have a reaction like that after a loss but I don't know what could have caused it for before that.." Chopper trailed off as Ace had a slight smile. "You're a good doctor." Chopper was going to respond when he saw Ace sigh and look at his hand. "It's not really a simple thing, I doubt there's much any doctor could do for it other than make sure he stays healthy." Chopper listened quietly. "The reason he was like that before is basically that he was left alone." Chopper nodded, it making sense. "His dad left him with his grandfather to try to protect him but his grandfather left him at some village, thinking it would be best for him. He grew up for years without anyone other than the villagers, who tried to make him feel at home, but no one actually took him in. The first real family-like people he found was dad's crew, but they couldn't stay or take him at first either." Chopper looked down. "That's..." Ace shrugged. "I wouldn't know much else about that. Dad and pa would though. None of them really talk about moments like that from before I met him."</p><p>After Ace talked to Chopper about Luffy he asked Ace about his health and such as well, getting everything he needed in case something happened to him. Ace smiled as Chopper wrote down the last of the information and turned to look at something else. "If you're wondering how to help Luffy, just be there for him. He'll definitely return the care later." Chopper turned to look at Ace but he was already gone and the door shut quietly. Chopper smiled. 'He's already done a lot for everyone here, and we'll all do a lot for him too.'</p><p>The next few days consisted of the crew, now with Ace back with them, traveling through the desert meeting people and getting involved in small scuffles along the way. Vivi was intent on keeping everyone safe by stopping the rebels which everyone found admirable. At the moment, the crew was heading from what was left of Yuba back toward Nanohana. Luffy was behind everyone, walking quietly as he frowned.</p><p>
  <strong>[This is where the writing and story will most likely be shifting since it's been months since I last wrote anything, aka the stuff above XD (I really wrote down like no notes for this story so we winging this QwQ). I'm also just gonna kinda go off my memory of what happened cuz I feel like going further away from canon and no one can stop me uvu, so prepared for Luffy to be even clingier UwU</strong>
  <strong>]</strong>
</p><p>Ace glanced back at his youngest brother, knowing something was up. "Luf?" Luffy slowed to a stop, getting all their attention. "Vivi. Your plan isn't going to work." Vivi turned on him quickly, tightly clenching her fists as she moved past everyone in between them. Luffy didn't move as Vivi lifted her hand and slapped him, shocking everyone else. Zoro had to grab Ace as he flared up. "Hey?! Don't hit Luffy! Who do you-"</p><p>"It won't work." Vivi lifted her hand to smack him again but faltered as he glared at him. "You can't just expect no one to get hurt." Vivi put her arm down. "Yes, I can! I'm the princess, I can stop the rebels and no one has to get hurt at all!" Luffy's eyebrow twitched. He normally didn't get upset but he couldn't deny his slight anger. "You can't expect to keep everyone from getting hurt." Vivi shook her head. "Yes I ca-"</p><p>"People die Vivi! You can't protect everyone! People get hurt and they die whether you have the strength to help them or not.." Vivi clenched her fists as she violently grabbed his shirt. "How would you know?! You're just a pirate! You don't have that many people you have to protect and they're all strong on their own!!!" Luffy stilled as Vivi yelled. She continued on, yelling about Luffy being naive. She halted only when there was a sword at her throat.</p><p>Zoro and Ace had both been too shocked by Vivi's oblivious words to act at first but Zoro moved first. He pulled Luffy out of her grip and aimed the blade of his sword at her throat. Nami and Sanji were shocked. "Zoro what are you doing?! Get your sword away from Vivi-chan!!!" There was silence afterward, no one dared move. Not until Ace walked past Vivi and Ace, gently wrapping his arms around Luffy.</p><p>No one had realized other than Ace and Zoro, but Luffy was shaking...crying. Nami covered her mouth at the tense situation, the silence only stopped by the sound of uncomfortable shuffling of two near her. She looked to her side to see Usopp and Chopper. Chopper seemed more disappointed but Usopp. Usopp was angry, angry like she had never seen. He took a breath before walking to Luffy, Ace, and Zoro, ignoring the surprised look he received from Sanji.</p><p>Chopper was not long to follow, glancing at the three opposite to him now. "You really shouldn't say things like that to anyone...let alone someone whose circumstance you don't know." Nami looked at the four that stood by Luffy's side before she saw it. She saw how Luffy's shoulders shook with every shakey breath he took. "Oh, Luffy..." 'You've lost someone...haven't you...' Nami got off the camel's back, walking to Sanji and putting a hand on his shoulder.</p><p>"Zoro put your sword down..." Zoro looked to her before lowering, but not sheathing, his sword. Vivi was shocked and confused. Nami took a breath. "I don't know what, but something said crossed a line...right?" Zoro looked at the two brothers, not wanting to interrupt them, but knowing it wasn't his place to answer. "Ace." Ace closed his eyes and took a breath before gently passing Luffy to Zoro. He knew Luffy was strong, stronger than most, but someone...a friend...claiming he didn't know loss. Ace was surprised how well Luffy had concealed his emotions. He knew full well he was hiding them, he always did.</p><p>Ace turned to the three, his glare causing all three to freeze. "You." Vivi backed up some. "If Luffy didn't consider you his friend you'd be toast already." Nami's hand tightened on Sanji out of fear. "I suggest you listen to Chopper's words. If you don't know the past, don't lecture someone on it." Ace felt his flames barely staying contained and took a breath. "If it were up to me, we would leave." Vivi's eyes widened. "But it's not. That's Luffy's choice, and his choice was to fight Crocodile."</p><p>Ace sighed before turning back to the others. "Luffy. If you're feeling better, a certain man you promised to beat is heading in this direction." Luffy, who had calmed down looked at Ace before pausing and noticing the presence nearby, heading towards them. "You guys go ahead." Ace rolled his eyes and put a hand on Luffy's head, ruffling his hair. "You know I'm not doing that right? It's kinda my job to watch over you, I mean, dad and pa would kill me if you got hurt." Luffy smiled. "Shishishi, I guess that's true. Just don't butt in! It's my fight!" Ace rolled his eyes. "I know, I know."</p><p>Zoro looked at the two before putting his sword away and shooing the others forward. "You heard the captain, get going!" They blinked but began to move as Ace and Luffy stared in the same direction, chatting quietly as they did so. Zoro frowned, having a bad feeling. "You guys head straight to whatever the place was called, I'm going to stay with Ace and Luffy." Usopp looked at him. "Huh? What if we get attacked!?" Zoro shrugged, turning back to the two standing on their own.</p><p>As the rest of the crew left Zoro sighed. He knew he'd probably get yelled at, but something was off and he wasn't going to just ignore it. Luffy saw him walking back over and just smiled. "Are you staying to watch me fight too?" Zoro smiled some. "Yeah, yeah, you got this Luf." Luffy smiled before turning to watch the small figure getting bigger along the horizon. Ace looked over at Zoro, the same thought on his mind.</p><p>As the two older ones watched quietly Luffy grew serious, getting down, ready to attack. He had heard of Crocodile before. Quite frankly he knew most of the warlord's thanks to Benn. He lectured him before he left about who was considered a warlord at the time. Crocodile was luckily one of them. That and he was known for constantly taking on Whitebeard. Luffy knew his powers thanks to that and was prepared, or as prepared as he could be.</p><p>Crocodile was quick to arrive and start their fight, ignoring the two antsy onlookers as he focused on the kid. After a stalemate for the most part Crocodile slowed and stopped. "How do you know my attacks?" He couldn't deny he was annoyed. How did such a kid know of his powers when no one in the whole kingdom had truly put it all together. Luffy only smiled, winding his fist, which he had covered in water, back. "Let's just say I actually listened to pa for once!"</p><p>Crocodile instinctively dodged as he lunged forward, landing a hit finally, but not where he originally planned. He had aimed for the heart but shifted his aim when he realized what he had said. Ace and Zoro were in shock at the sight of Luffy being impaled by the hook. "Hold on...you said 'pa' who the hell is he? And how does he know my powers?" Luffy, despite the very serious wound, smiled, realizing something the others wouldn't for a while. Crocodile would be lying if he said he didn't like the kid. He was annoying, but something...something made the older man like him. He carefully removed his hook from Luffy's stomach, catching the small boy with a frown.</p><p>He didn't have time to speak to the partially conscious boy again before a flame came towards his face, causing him to dodge, carrying the boy with him. "Hey, hey, calm down. He's not dead. I made sure of that." Ace hesitated but the sight of him dodging, instinctively covering the boy he carried, made him stop his attack. Zoro on the other hand was still on edge, not planning to attack, but ready to defend.</p><p>"Set my brother down." Crocodile's eyebrow rose. "Your brother?" Ace nodded and Crocodile knelt down, putting the boy on the sand below. Ace watched him as he walked closer. "Why the sudden change in heart?" Crocodile looked at Ace, before looking at the injured boy below him, shrugging. Ace sighed, realizing he wouldn't get an answer just yet, and instead sat on his knees next to his brother.</p><p>He never did like to use his powers for medical use, but he couldn't deny being able to close a wound was useful in times like this. Luffy was fine other than the now burned shut wound and being asleep. Ace sighed and rolled his eyes, realizing Luffy would be up and about in no time. "Zoro, come over here and pick him up please." Zoro nodded and put his swords away before gently scooping Luffy up. "Crocodile." The man who had been watching quietly sighed. "I know what you're going to ask, but I can't stop it now. They wouldn't listen even if I attacked them." Ace frowned.</p><p>"That's an issue..." Crocodile watched the three before sighing and holding his head in his hand. "Why do you trust me not to attack you? I am the cause of this whole fun mess." He was more curious than anything else. Ace looked at him before pointing to Luffy. "You had a chance to fatally wound him and stopped. You also subconsciously protected him from my flames. I think the better question is how did Luffy weasel his way into your cold heart so quick."</p><p>It was silent before Crocodile laughed. "I guess that would be the right question. I don't have an answer though." Ace shrugged. "I don't think most people do. Hell, I was trying to kill him when we first met too." Crocodile looked over at the boy Zoro was holding. "What an odd kid..." Ace nodded, turning to look around some. "I'd say. He scares the crap out of me by doing the stupidest of shit. I mean, he planned to fight you after only hearing about you once."</p><p>"I wanted to ask about that, he said your father was the one that told him about me. Who is he?" Ace smirked. "Well, depends on which one you mean. The one that told Luffy about you would be Benn." Crocodile raised his eyebrows in interest. There were very few pirates out there in relationships. "Who's your other father?" Ace's smirk widened. "Shanks." Crocodile's eye's widened before he laughed. "I guess that would explain a lot."</p><p>The two talked as the four made their way to the nearest place on Crocodile's sand. He really did not expect to be having a change in heart that day, but it wasn't unwelcome as now he had some pretty interesting kids to watch. They arrived in a small town and Luffy was awake in no time as he smelled food, not minding the fact that Crocodile, his supposed enemy was a few feet away. After Luffy ate he smiled and turned to Crocodile.</p><p>"Yo!" Crocodile wasn't sure how to respond. Ace rolled his eyes, hitting Luffy on the head. "Well, I guess that answers my thoughts. You're not on the 'To Fight' list anymore." Luffy smiled. "Shishishi, Vivi gets to decide his punishment though." Crocodile sighed, not really caring. "Eh, I've gotten bored of this kingdom anyway. No matter my fate, I'm more interested in what's to come." He looked down at Luffy who smiled up at him. It was strange.</p><p>Luffy sprung up with a smile. "Let's go to the others!" Zoro rolled his eyes and used his sheathed word to hit Luffy's head. "You idiot, how are you gonna explain that Crocodile's not the enemy now?" Luffy made an 'o' with his mouth before shrugging. "It's fine! Most of this should be over since Croco is okay now!" Crocodile blinked at the nickname but didn't have time to comment as the boy was already up and trying to get them all out and on the move.</p><p>It really didn't take that much time for them to get to the battles. Luffy frowned seeing no one was listening to Vivi. "Hey Croco! Could you help us calm everyone down? Just don't kill anyone!" Crocodile rolled his eyes but lowered the sand they were all on. "Ace and Zoro hopped off to find the crew while Crocodile moved Luffy close to Vivi. "You may want to go to the old catacombs. The next in charge after me is Miss All Sunday. Even though she's next in power, I was never sure of her goal." Luffy glanced at him before nodding and hopping down near a very surprised Vivi. "Hey, Vivi! Croco is on our side now! You still get to choose his punishment though!"</p><p>Without another word Luffy was off in the direction, Crocodile had pointed, leaving a confused but slightly relieved Vivi. She wasn't sure how or why Crocodile wasn't the enemy, but grateful all the same. Luffy was currently racing down lots of stairs as he felt shockwaves from the battle above. He figured his friends were all trying their best to stop them now. He smiled as he reached the bottom, seeing Miss All Sunday starting at a strange rock.</p><p>"What's that?" Miss All Sunday, or Robin, jumped at the new voice. She turned to see Luffy curiously looking at the writing on the stone. "It's an ancient writing..." Luffy smiled. "Do you like history?" Robin looked at him but turned back to the stone. "I do...but there's nothing here. Everywhere I've been has only shown me dead ends." She smiled and looked down. "I'm done." She looked up as one of the more worn down pillars crumbled, causing the roof to start to crack. Luffy looked up with weary eyes.</p><p>He knew what he wanted to do, so he did it. He broke a hole in the roof, grabbing the king and Robin before pulling them all out of the collapsing runes. "You...why did you save me?!" Luffy looked at the distraught Robin and shrugged with a smile. "I don't know." Robin stared in shock as the boy helped the king stand before helping lead him towards the castle. Robin looked down, her frown turning into a small smile, an idea already forming as she carefully stood up.</p><p>It took little time for the crew to meet up again, the kingdom finally returning to peace and quiet. Vivi decided that Crocodile should turn in his warlord title, which he didn't fight much about, it was only a title to him either way. It did mean he would probably be capture but it was a small price to pay for some possible entertainment in the future. Luffy and his friends were quick to leave, waving to their Princess friend as they did.</p><p>Ace, after everything that had happened in Alabasta, decided it may be best for him to stay with Luffy and the crew for a little while. He knew Luffy had an uncanny ability to win, but he put too much at risk for his or anyone else's liking. Along with that, the appearance of Robin on their crew unsettled most. She easily spotted what everyone liked, securing her place. Ace knew Luffy wasn't so easy to accept people on his crew, but he couldn't shake the feeling more problems would stem from this.</p><p>Later in the night, Luffy sat outside and watched the stars. He knew Vivi hadn't meant any harm in the words she said earlier, but they stuck in his brain. <em>He</em> stuck in his brain. Luffy wasn't surprised when Ace quietly sat down next to him. Neither spoke. They didn't need to. All they needed was each other's presence. Luffy sighed some, letting his smile fade as he leaned on his brother. He tried to stay happy and strong in front of his crew, he wanted to be dependable. Ace was his brother though, he knew he could relax around him. There was another pair of footsteps and their swordsman joined the two, sitting behind them.</p><p>The three still didn't talk. They were comfortable. The rest of the crew knew they were out there but let them be. Not wanting to interrupt. They had never seen Luffy upset before the events of Alabasta and were okay with giving him space. It was a quiet night and one with little trouble, letting the three relax in peace. Ace was the first to break the silence as he sat up some more. "How about we call dad and pa tomorrow?" Luffy smiled. "Yeah."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I think I may actually want to just rewrite this as I think the switch is kinda drastic but like,,, rewriting all those chapters make me want input on whether I should or not -w-</p>
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